Virgin Broadband - slow surfing

I've just converted from Home Highway (ISDN) to Virgin Broadband, and am
very disappointed with the performance I'm getting.

Sheer download speed is excellent (eg. when downloading an update file for
my anti-virus, 500k in 10 seconds or so), but when browsing through websites
I find it slower than I had before. Lots of pages are loading with the
dreaded little red crosses where images should be. Reloading frequently
makes things worse.

A factor could be that I have also downloaded and am using Zone Alarm (basic
version) to give me the essential firewall protection. This may also be
responsible for the fact that I notice that spare memory gets used up faster
than before. OK, I have "only" 128M of RAM, but after opening a couple of
applications and closing them again, I find that there may be no memory left
free at all.

Does anyone else have a similar experience? Any suggestions for changes or
improvements? I had hoped that BB would electrify my internet experience,
but it feels like I have gone backwards.

Any help gratefully received!

Dave

PS. I'm using Win98

"DP" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:7d2Wb.8271$q%(E-Mail Removed)...
> I've just converted from Home Highway (ISDN) to Virgin Broadband, and am
> very disappointed with the performance I'm getting.
>
> Sheer download speed is excellent (eg. when downloading an update file for
> my anti-virus, 500k in 10 seconds or so), but when browsing through
websites
> I find it slower than I had before. Lots of pages are loading with the
> dreaded little red crosses where images should be. Reloading frequently
> makes things worse.
>
> A factor could be that I have also downloaded and am using Zone Alarm
(basic
> version) to give me the essential firewall protection. This may also be
> responsible for the fact that I notice that spare memory gets used up
faster
> than before. OK, I have "only" 128M of RAM, but after opening a couple of
> applications and closing them again, I find that there may be no memory
left
> free at all.

Have you tried disabling Zone Alarm temporarily? I'm having similar issues
after installing ZA a week ago and I think the current version of ZA has
some problems.

>
> Does anyone else have a similar experience? Any suggestions for changes
or
> improvements? I had hoped that BB would electrify my internet experience,
> but it feels like I have gone backwards.
>
> Any help gratefully received!
>
> Dave
>
> PS. I'm using Win98
>
>
>

Ive been using Virgin broadband since it was available and the
performance has generally been very good. However, there has been a
marked deterioration since around last November. At best things have
been patchy since, sometimes you can find the dialup is better than
the broadband!!!!

AJ

On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 10:22:25 -0000, "DP" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>I've just converted from Home Highway (ISDN) to Virgin Broadband, and am
>very disappointed with the performance I'm getting.
>
snip
>
>Does anyone else have a similar experience? Any suggestions for changes or
>improvements? I had hoped that BB would electrify my internet experience,
>but it feels like I have gone backwards.
>
>Any help gratefully received!
>
>Dave
>
>PS. I'm using Win98
>
>

NDO had similar problems but happily today, their increased capacity went
live.

The point is that whilst NDO have kept their customers truthfully informed
as to what was happening on their support forum, it appears Virgin,
according to some of their clients, have been more economical with the
truth.

http://www.ndousers.com/cgi-bin/cute...=16&thread=330

It seems that the rapid interest in Broadband has caught a few ISP's on the
hop, capacity wise. According to NDO, it takes in excess of 12 weeks for BT
to install the necessary equipment to increase capacity - from when the ISP
has ordered it.

Perhaps Virgin have only recently (or even not yet) ordered their system
improvements.






"Big H" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Ive been using Virgin broadband since it was available and the
> performance has generally been very good. However, there has been a
> marked deterioration since around last November. At best things have
> been patchy since, sometimes you can find the dialup is better than
> the broadband!!!!
>
> AJ
>
> On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 10:22:25 -0000, "DP" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
> >I've just converted from Home Highway (ISDN) to Virgin Broadband, and am
> >very disappointed with the performance I'm getting.
> >
> snip
> >
> >Does anyone else have a similar experience? Any suggestions for changes
or
> >improvements? I had hoped that BB would electrify my internet
experience,
> >but it feels like I have gone backwards.
> >
> >Any help gratefully received!
> >
> >Dave
> >
> >PS. I'm using Win98
> >
> >
>

In message <7d2Wb.8271$q%(E-Mail Removed)>, DP
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Sheer download speed is excellent (eg. when downloading an update file for
>my anti-virus, 500k in 10 seconds or so), but when browsing through websites
>I find it slower than I had before. Lots of pages are loading with the
>dreaded little red crosses where images should be. Reloading frequently
>makes things worse.
>
>A factor could be that I have also downloaded and am using Zone Alarm (basic
>version) to give me the essential firewall protection. This may also be
>responsible for the fact that I notice that spare memory gets used up faster
>than before. OK, I have "only" 128M of RAM, but after opening a couple of
>applications and closing them again, I find that there may be no memory left
>free at all.

Are you using Norton anti virus?
This would appear to be a swine for gobbling up RAM and not releasing it
back.

--
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Personal email for Gareth Jones can be sent to:
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