After boasting recently on here about how reliable my broadband is, it is now playing up. Using speedtest.net my download speed and ping and way slower than they should be. Resetting the router cures it, but only for a short while. My terrible suspicion is that “something” is using my connection. Anyone got any advice on the best place to start in terms of isolating the problem? I’ve changed the wireless password to see if that makes any difference, but my fear is it could be something more sinister (it’s not just the wireless devices that are suffering).

WPA on the wireless.

Malware scan on the PCs.

Review ‘connected devices’ on the router.

Are you using any sort of telephone extension? Plug the router directly into the master socket.

Get one of these.

My router – a Belkin something or other – has a DHCP client list which never reliably shows what is connected. It is currently showing no DHCP clients!

Do you recommend any malware scanner for Mac?

I do use an extension from the master socket. Nothing new there, I’ve had that set up for years, but will try your suggestion. The issue I’m having is that – like right now whilst I’m on the Mac – there’s nothing wrong, hence why I’m thinking thoughts like botnets. Are they only active when the Mac is otherwise inactive?

[EDIT – Just gone slow again]

Dunno about Mac, but it’s considerably less likely to be malware. Any device on the connection that’s hogging it could cause an issue though. If you’ve multiple devices it might be worth disconnecting them all and reconnecting in turn to try and narrow it down.

Do you get the same symptoms when wired into the router rather than wireless?

Is there a firmware update available for the router?

Do you still have performance problems with another computer attached to the router ?

What about when using a wired connection to the router, and the router/modem connected to the main phone socket ( all other phone devices unplugged ) ?

What security have you implemented on the router ?

Thanks for the suggestions guys, but I’m 99% sure I’ve found the culprit. I recently signed up to LiveDrive and I have an awful lot of files currently uploading to its online storage. This all happens from the Mac and seems to be hogging bandwidth. I can pause the transfers and do another speed test and there is an instant performance increase. The timing of all this – at the same time as this talk of the Flashback malware on Macs – had got me paranoid.

Cheers

Groovy.