New router, slower internet connection?

Question

We just bought a new router a few hours ago, and it does work. However, for some reason the speed is just ridiculously slow (compared to before, at least)! If I run a test on speedtest.net I get the following results:

Which are pretty good. But for some reason it's like the connection just "hangs" for a second when I navigate to a site through the browser (have tried different browsers). It's not on all sites, it kind of happens randomly. I think the browser cache might be speeding some sites up, because if I visit a site that I HAVEN'T visited before (since I cleared my cache), it takes like two seconds (if not more) to open the site. If I have visited it, it opens directly (it barely loads).

Not sure what to do, really. Any suggestions on what might speed it up? Any settings I can play with in the router settings?

The router is of the brand Belkin. I'm not sure about the model though, it says "Belkin, Play Max Wireless Router" on the box?

EDIT: Alright, it takes a lot more than two seconds. At least 3-4 depending on the site. Any suggestions?

Solution

This issue may have absolutely nothing to do with the new router, just a matter of coincidence. If you can surf normal once a site loads, your issues could be one of many things. 2 things that come to mind is DNS resolving the names slowly. Try using a public DNS server such as Google. (I am running into class now, and will update this answer with instructions if your interested.)

The second thing I would look at is the browser add-ons. If you are in IE, and look at your browser add-ons, chances are 90% of them are not needed. Also, newer versions of IE also tell you how much time they are adding to browser loading. If you scroll to far right, you will see a number in brackets listed in seconds.

Go to this page, the "Wan DNS" screenshot is where you can manually set your DNS servers, you would uncheck the "Automatic from ISP" box, then punch in your DNS server ip addresses of choice. This is for a similar model and may not be exactly the same layout at yours, but should be close.

You can use Google public DNS servers http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/

or Open DNS Servers 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220

.

Comments

[FJ de Brienne]

Once you have arrived at the site is it quick navigating around within that site, or is it slow on every page of that site?

[apoorv020]

Can you tell us what OS are you using? Might be some random problem with your OS which you noticed when you changed your router.

[qwerty]

It navigates at normal speed once i've navigated to the site once. Really weird. @apoorv020: I'm running Windows 7 on all computers except one which i'm running Windows XP on, i have the same problem there.

[Panthr073]

Are you connecting through wifi? Have you tried changing the wifi channel?

[Moab]

The model will start with F7Dxxxx, then we can point you to the user guide, which may be helpful to change the DNS servers in the router firmware. If it is a 4301, then this is the manual...en-us-support.belkin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/36‌​49

[qwerty]

MTU as in Maximum Transfer Unit? To begin with i can't find that setting in my new router's settings. I just found out there's a new firmware update for the router, i'll install the update tomorrow. I doubt that will fix it though...

[Panthr073]

Yes, it's maximum transmission unit.

[DaBaer]

Thanks for the edit. I got pretty swamped in class, and didnt get back on to complete my answer.