DL/page load speed great, but browser "looking up" and "connecting to" slow

[benz981]

I just got Fios Internet on Monday.  The speed of downloading and webpage loading is really good!  However, there is one annoying problem that maybe someone can help with?  When I enter a URL, it takes a long time for the browser to "look up" and "connect to" the site.  For example, it takes 10 seconds to "look up" google.com (which should load almost instantly).  The problem is that many sites that pull from different advertisers... getting on a news site is awful because it takes forever for the internet to look up "ads.cnn.com" and "advertisements.ystd.dhsk.com" or whatever.  But once if finally looks them up and connects to them, the ads load quickly.

Any ideas about what I can try?

[spacedebris]

Several things that may give us a clue are...

1. Run a speed test at  www.speedtest.net so we can make sure of the speeds

2. check the task manager and check to see the number of processes running

3. How much of the ram memory is being used when idle

4. Run a tracert to a couple of example sites so we can check for bad hops

If you need instructions on how to do this, just let us know

[benz981]

1.)  Ok, I performed the speed test and copied the forum link below:

[URL=http://www.speedtest.net][IMG]http://www.speedtest.net/result/503748193.png[/IMG][/URL]

2.)  I am not running any more or less processes than before I got Fios, so I know it's not a processor issue.

3.)  I don't know about the ram memory... but again, nothing has changed except getting a different internet service.  The browser (Firefox) never took this long to "look up" and "connect to" sites.

4.)  Could you explain what #4 means, and how I perform that task?  Not sure what "tracert" and "hops" are, sorry.

[BrianMcD]

TRACERT shouws you the path that your PC takes to get to a location on the Internet.

Goto a Command Prompt (Start - Run - CMD), then type in TRACERT www.google.com (Or another www that you are having a problem with).

[benz981]

I'm actually using a Mac... but it's not just one site.  It's pretty much any time I go to any website, it takes annoyingly long to "look it up."  Once it finally "finds" it, the load speed of the page is great.  But again, the problem is sites that pull content from multiple sources (mostly ads)... so every source has to be "looked up" or "connecting to" for 10 seconds or so.  May not seem like that long, but 6 different sources adds up to me sitting there for an entire minute waiting for a simple page to load  🙂

[Justin46]

What browser and what anti-virus are you using?

It seems to me that there is a function in Firefox that will verify links in web pages, but I could be wrong, I don't use Firefox much any more.

If you are using AVG anti-virus, make sure you have turned off the function that causes AVG to go to every link in a web page and verify that it is not a bogus site (I'm sorry, I can't remember the function name, I gave up on AVG and now use Avast free, which I like a lot better than AVG, but that function will absolutely kill browser performance).

Try turning on or getting an ad blocker. In IE 7 I use the ad blocker included in IE7Pro, a terrific freebie with lots of great functions that make IE 7 a much better browser. In firefox I use Adblock Plus, a really good free add-on that does a great job blocking ads.   

And one last thing, I found that the Verizon DNS service was slow. I switched to the free OpenDNS and the DNS lookups seem to be quite a bit faster, so you might try that.

Hopefully I have given you a few things to try, if you need help with any of them just let us know. Good luck.

__________________________________
Justin
Verizon FiOS TV, Internet, and phone
IMG 1.6.2, Build 08.58
Keller, TX 76248

[dslr595148]

#1 As need be: For ping and trace route, see http://www.more.net/technical/pingtrace.html

#2 What is the brand and model of your router?

[spacedebris]

OPPS. I assumed windows.... well you know what it means when you make an assumption. 

Well one thing to consider. Fios IS a new service for your computer and compared to DSL/Cable it does take just a hair more ram memory to run. I see it all the time where a computer is running only 256mb of ram and it goes fine with DSL speeds but when upgrading to fios, the 256 is bare minimum and tends to slow the computer down slightly. boosting up the ram usually takes care of this. But this is usally a windows issue not Mac

Does it take a while for the window to open when you click on the ICON or does the window open to a blank page and then take a while for the page itself to load?  How about when you go from one page to another, do you get the same delay or is it only when first opening the browser?

Message Edited by spacedebris on 06-25-2009 12:02 PM

[jumpin68ny]

This sounds more like a DNS issue.  As someone else requested what brand router are you using.  Also, if you go to the following, need to know what DNS you are using on the PC.

start

run

cmd

ipconfig

report back the ip address, default gateway and DNS address listed.

[benz981]

Ok, a bunch of replies, so here's some more information:

1.)  I'm using a Mac... Operating system is OS X 10.4.11.  Web browser is FireFox.

2.)  I changed DNS servers to Open DNS (followed the directions provided on their site).  No change in the time delay.

3.)  Just to reiterate-  This is not an issue of load speed.  Once the content is "looked up" from the site, it loads quickly.  It's the "looking up" and "connecting to" processes that take ridiculously long (ie. 13-15 seconds to look up google.com... puhleeze!)  The delay is the same no matter what site I go to.  And certain sites are awful (ie. sites that pull ad content from different sources... takes 10 seconds to access all of the ads.google.com, admedia.cnn.com, etc).... so the page takes forever to actually load.

4.)  Nothing is slow about my computer... operating system, other programs, browser itself... all fine.  The only thing that is a problem is the "look up," "connecting to," etc. time.

5.)  dslr595.... I went to that site and tried the "ping" and "traceroute" steps, but I don't have a "network utilities" in my "utilities" folder.  BUT-  after reading that site, it sounds like that is more the type of issues that exists-  the response time.  Brand and model of the router is Actiontec MI424WR.

I appreciate all the feedback and would welcome more.... thanks everyone!