Brand new Dells slow on internet only

Just got 6 new Dell Optiplex 170L's. Everything's running fine, except within about two days of setting them up, they all of a sudden start running EXTREMELY SLOW on the internet only. Everything else zips right along; it's just the internet that's painfully slow.

These have XP Pro SP2, and we have a T1 line here where all the other stations are running at normal speed. I disabled the firewall already.

I had this same thing happen with a new Dell laptop that I got last year, and I spent a whole lot of time with Dell support without getting anywhere. I'm hoping someone will have an idea so I don't have to suffer through Dell's notoriously frustrating "off-shore" support!!!

 

Update: When I said I disabled the firewall, I meant the Windows Firewall that comes on the Dell machines.

 

First question is, is how many machines are running on this network, and what type of applications are being used to communicate through the T1? Also, what type of speeds are you getting when you use a Speed testing application (Up/Down). Out of the box, you should be seeing good speeds, but if the internal network is not configured correctly, that would be why speeds suck.

 

First, let me warn you that I'm not a network tech. I'm just filling in for a tech guy who left 2 years ago; and while I've learned quite a bit about tech stuff during this time, I'm not conversant with all the lingo and so forth that you "techies" know. I'm only familiar with those desktop- and network-related problems that I've experienced myself over these 2 years, using Majorgeeks and Googling to help me solve various problems over this time.

That said....

We have about 40 machines on the network. Our major application (that manages our accounting, customer database, etc.) is on the server. The only things that we use the T1 for, that I know of, is to download email from our off-site email hoster and to access websites via the internet. When you talk about "speed testing," do you mean on the local station or do you mean the processing speed of the T1 line? I didn't think it was related to the network set-up or T1 line because if that were the case, why would all my other machines work fine? (It also seems to be an intermittent issue. The Dell I got in Dec 2004 had this problem; whereas the Dell Optiplex I got in Mar 2005 never did develop this problem.) Any ideas based on what I've told you so far?

 

First, let me warn you that I'm not a network tech. I'm just filling in for a tech guy who left 2 years ago; and while I've learned quite a bit about tech stuff during this time, I'm not conversant with all the lingo and so forth that you "techies" know. I'm only familiar with those desktop- and network-related problems that I've experienced myself over these 2 years, using Majorgeeks and Googling to help me solve various problems over this time.

That said....

We have about 40 machines on the network. Our major application (that manages our accounting, customer database, etc.) is on the server. The only things that we use the T1 for, that I know of, is to download email from our off-site email hoster and to access websites via the internet. When you talk about "speed testing," do you mean on the local station or do you mean the processing speed of the T1 line? I didn't think it was related to the network set-up or T1 line because if that were the case, why would all my other machines work fine? (It also seems to be an intermittent issue. The Dell I got in Dec 2004 had this problem; whereas the Dell Optiplex I got in Mar 2005 never did develop this problem.) Any ideas based on what I've told you so far?

 

http://chi.speakeasy.net/ is a good speedtesting site. As for being Techy and the such, the answer I gave was pretty straightforward, and nothing techy about it.

If you are getting poor IP resolves when trying to browse on your Internal network, not the Internet, then there is something wrong in the settings of the router for your Internal LAN, which getting a consultant that knows what they are doing to help in correcting any network problems.

Being a home network guru is one thing, but maintaining a LAN for a business is another, in which you really need someone that knows what they are doing in maintaining it.

 

Thanks for the response. I must apologize if I offended with the term "techie." I was just doing what I always do when getting tech help -- making it clear that I'm not a tech. When you said "speed testing application (up/down)" I just thought I should tell you about my level of knowledge, since I didn't know exactly what you meant by that.

The problem with the computer slowing down is *strictly on the internet.* It moves really fast throughout the programs loaded on our network server and all local programs. It's just the internet that's the problem. That seems to be the part that always stumps Dell when I call them. I have an outside tech firm that we can use for major problems, but I like to try Googling stuff and using sites like Majorgeeks first, in case the problem's easy enough to solve myself.

Once I do the speedtest, what then?

 

Once done with the speedtest, it will give you an ideal if you are hitting the speeds you are being sold. Most likely we are looking at a Latency thing if we are talking about VPN, and remote application stuff through the connection. There are tools available that you can use to keep tabs on what is going on between the remote servers and the local connection, but you will have to have the application running in the background all the time (uses little of system resources).

What sites are in particular that you are having problems with? Could it be that there are multiple connections going on from the LAN to the Internet, that your T1 is bogging down? Also, the router could be one in which it is not capable of Packet shaping, and your company needs to upgrade the routers if not what would be considered Level3 routers.