Spotty Internet connection - what's the source?

Do you have to power cycle your router a lot? If you haven't tried that yet, you could look at that. If you power cycle your router a lot and still get that issue, I submit that the router is crappy...

 

It could even be your computer. If you press <ctrl> + <Alt> + <Del> and then choose task manager. Check in the Process List if there isn't anything, well kind of funny running. You should be able to see standard windows processes, but there might be another process that is responsible for it. If you identify a few suspect processes, Google it first to see exactly what this process does and if it is needed. Chances are that you may have fallen victim so some kind of bogus software. Always be careful of installing demos.

JUST A WORD OF WARNING: PROCESSES IS AN ADVANCED LEVEL, YOU CAN DO HARM TO YOUR COMPUTER IF QUITTING THE WRONG PROCESSES. IT'S IMPORTANT THAT YOU FIND OUT ABOUT A PARTICULAR PROCESS FIRST BEFORE DOING ANYTHING

---------- Post added 14th May 2012 at 11:50 AM ----------

Oh and when's the last time you actually re-installed your computer. Windows is a bitch and once a year re-installation is recommended to keep you computer operating at optimum

 

Is it specific site or just general slowness?
Is it all the time or only at specific times?

Could be try,
Resetting the Router (turn it off wait 20 or so seconds and turn it on again)
Turning off wireless (if you have if) and disconnect all computers except for one. And Test like that.

It could be the router how many people are sharing the connection?
Are you running any type of peer-to-peer software (even if not downloading very much these programs can cause issues in low end routers)

When it slows down try performing a traceroute.
In windows open command prompt and type ‘tracert www.google.com’
If in OSX open terminal and type ‘traceroute www.google.com’

The output will look like this

Code:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Users\****>tracert www.emptyclosets.com

Tracing route to www.emptyclosets.com [66.115.186.127]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  Billion.herebedragons [192.168.0.1]
  2    21 ms    20 ms    19 ms  172.18.210.21
  3    20 ms    19 ms    20 ms  172.18.68.162
  4    25 ms    24 ms    23 ms  172.18.240.101
  5    22 ms    23 ms    24 ms  Bundle-Ether10.win18.Melbourne.telstra.net [203.
45.17.37]
  6    30 ms    24 ms    23 ms  Bundle-Ether2.win-core1.Melbourne.telstra.net [2
03.50.6.113]
  7    36 ms    35 ms    36 ms  Bundle-Pos3.ken-core4.Sydney.telstra.net [203.50
.11.12]
  8    36 ms    35 ms    36 ms  Bundle-Ether1.pad-gw2.Sydney.telstra.net [203.50
.6.29]
  9    33 ms    33 ms    33 ms  203.50.13.118
 10   180 ms   180 ms   179 ms  i-0-4-0-0.paix-core01.bx.telstraglobal.net [202.
84.140.37]
 11   180 ms   180 ms   180 ms  i-1-1.paix01.bi.telstraglobal.net [202.84.251.70
]
 12   203 ms   202 ms   203 ms  206.111.12.173.ptr.us.xo.net [206.111.12.173]
 13   220 ms   220 ms   220 ms  te0-11-4-0.rar3.sanjose-ca.us.xo.net [207.88.12.
181]
 14   235 ms   228 ms   227 ms  207.88.13.237.ptr.us.xo.net [207.88.13.237]
 15   291 ms   287 ms   287 ms  vb15.rar3.dallas-tx.us.xo.net [207.88.12.45]
 16   286 ms   290 ms   268 ms  te-4-0-0.rar3.atlanta-ga.us.xo.net [207.88.12.1]

 17   234 ms   234 ms   233 ms  ae0d0.cir1.atlanta6-ga.us.xo.net [207.88.13.153]

 18   262 ms   262 ms   263 ms  216.156.108.114.ptr.us.xo.net [216.156.108.114]

 19   272 ms   274 ms   270 ms  gig2-10.tr1.atl4.national-net.com [66.115.128.11
4]
 20   269 ms   269 ms   269 ms  66.115.186.127

Trace complete.

Paste the Output here. (right click then press select all the hit the enter key to copy in windows)

Make sure your computer is clean of viruses

(If running windows try these, don’t know any for osx sorry and contrary to the beliefs of some of my friends OSX can get viruses)

Malwarebytes : Malwarebytes Anti-Malware PRO removes malware including viruses, spyware, worms and trojans, plus it protects your computer
avast! Free Antivirus | Download Antivirus Protection Software
Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Antivirus for Windows (Microsoft Actually did a good job with this one.)


Good Luck.