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The best way I know to find out where the problem is, when something like that happens, is to run "traceroute" (or, on windows systems, "TRACERT") at a command prompt (MS-DOS window). That shows you how long it takes to get a reply from each machine (router or computer) along the path between you and the server you're trying to reach. It tries each one three times, and tells you how long each of those replies took. So, if I want to see what's slowing down the traffic between me and www.dune-buggy.com (just use the machine name like that; without the "http://" and "/whatever/whatever..."), I see this (which shows no problems between me and that server): % traceroute www.dune-buggy.com
traceroute to dune-buggy.com (207.173.159.240), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets 1 router.someotherplace.org (209.150.100.33) 4 ms 10 ms 3 ms 2 pm2-balt.qis.net (209.150.97.3) 36 ms 35 ms 36 ms 3 cr1-balt-e1-0.qis.net (209.150.97.1) 36 ms 36 ms 37 ms 4 64.213.176.73 (64.213.176.73) 38 ms 38 ms 38 ms 5 pos5-0-622M.ar2.PHI1.gblx.net (206.132.118.225) 38 ms 38 ms 38 ms 6 pos1-0-622M.cr2.WDC2.gblx.net (208.178.174.122) 44 ms 40 ms 41 ms 7 so2-0-0-622M.ar1.DCA3.gblx.net (64.215.195.13) 42 ms 42 ms 42 ms 8 fe-1-2-0--0.er01.asbn.eli.net (207.173.144.25) 43 ms 41 ms 42 ms 9 p7-3.cr01.mcln.eli.net (207.173.114.129) 43 ms 43 ms 43 ms
10 p11-3.cr01.chcg.eli.net (207.173.115.89) 73 ms 74 ms 71 ms
11 p10-0.cr02.slkc.eli.net (207.173.115.53) 125 ms 125 ms 124 ms
12 p9-0.cr01.bois.eli.net (207.173.114.65) 131 ms 130 ms 131 ms
13 srp0-0-0.gw02.bois.eli.net (208.186.20.196) 130 ms 144 ms 131 ms
14 r1-ether.qwk.net (209.210.235.14) 131 ms 131 ms 133 ms
15 207.173.159.240 (207.173.159.240) 133 ms 132 ms 132 ms
If you see "*" in place of one or more of the times (e.g "* 125 ms *") it means that particular computer didn't respond at all on that try. The first machine (starting from the top) that has *'s for the response times or very high response times is most likely the one that's causing you trouble. Sometimes you can guess from its name whether it's at your own ISP, somewhere out on the backbone, or at the site you're trying to contact -- and with a little more research using "host" or "dig" and "whois" (sorry, I don't know the windows names for those programs, but they're freely available on the 'net) you can find out where that machine is and whom to contact about it. (Or, like I usually do, you can just nod your head, say "well, at least I know it's not my problem," get on with your life, and try again some other time.
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