I just got my "new" (refurbished) Dell Optiplex 755 pc with Windows 7 on it. COMPARED to my old pc, which was 9 years old and had XP on it, it is some faster, but not as much as I thought it would be.
I just watched a short video on youtube (a commercial that a friend wanted me to see) and it had to buffer up several times before it finished playing!
I have DSL through AT&T, so it's not like my internet should be so slow. True, it's not through comcast cable, but is this normal? Am I expecting too much? I am using the new Mozilla Firefox browser too.
Any suggestions? I really want to be able to watch tv shows and videos online, since we had to go bare BONES on our cable.
Thanks!
breadcrumbBuffering is generally an indication of a slow internet connection rather than a slow PC - If the PC wasn't powerful enough to run the video it would stutter and LAG when playing rather than sit buffering.

Try running a speed test at http://www.speedtest.net/ and post back here with the results - That will show us how fast your internet connection actually is.  The speed you can get on DSL can vary wildly based on several factors such as distance from your local telephone exchange and the QUALITY of the telephone lines to your property.http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3549912299

Don't know if this is good, bad, or fair....

breadcrumb
The 660k download by 90k upload is exactly why its slow to load.

You will want a connection of 3mb/s by 768kb/s minimum for videos to not buffer constantly. Although if others are using this connection thenyou can get network conjestion quickly if others are downloading etc.

BTW: Was all other network devices idle and not downloading during the speed test? Ig you have someone on another computer using bandwidth and then do a speed test, your results will be greatly skewed from what you really have for bandwidth from your ISP.I'll have to check the bill later as my mom keeps up with that. I pay the rent...we have a system! LOL! Anyway, all I know is that there's no one else on my line and I'm supposed to be getting fast internet.
this is a home pc and I get my home phone and my internet via AT&T.
Thanks!
breadcrumbI'd contact your ISP and have them perform a loop back and  noise test on your DSL. If your line has noise on it it will mess with the internet and they can sometimes fix this by giving you line filters to correct for this. Other times they have to replace old copper wiring with new such as if the copper wire is now green from being out in the environment in the what should be weatherproof telco boxes outside the home.Thanks for the tip! I never knew about such things! Not that this should be any surprise to
anyone!
Everyone on here has been just great! Thanks to all!
breadcrumb