For once I am posting a solution instead of a problem. I had complained to my ISP about a hesitation and speed issue. They agreed to upgrade my service from 15 to 25 Mbps. However when the guy was here to check the system he got that increased speed on my old Win 7 laptop, but could not get it as high with my new Win 8.1 much faster desktop PC. Ping time ranged from 40 to 56, and I was getting about 21 for download and 2.8 for upload. My laptop was doing about 7 for ping, 23 for download and 2.8 up. This is using the Speedtest by Ookla. He was unable to solve the problem but said he didn't like Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 was much better. Haven't we all heard that before.
In any case I did some Google searching and found similar advice - blame it on Win 8.1. I then stumbled onto a very accurate response that nailed the problem for me. I thought I would pass it on for those who may be having similar issues, or just want to tweak their system to best internet performance. Go to Control Panel, Device Manager, Network Adaptors, and open your adapter. Under the Advanced tab select Speed & Duplex. I found mine set to Auto Negotiation. It appears that this Auto Negotiation can slow your ping and even download time as it seems to take some time to get the negotiation done. I manually set my speed at first to 100 Mbps Half Duplex (which is what the poster said worked for him), but for me that didn't work at all. I then tried 100 Mbps Full Duplex, and Bingo. Ping time improved to 6 ms, download was 24.7, and upload 3.0. I am presuming that when you go the manual setting route, you have to match the communication protocol of the network adaptor. And when you manually set it, it speeds things up.
Speedtest.net by Ookla - My Results
Hope that is of some help to others,
In any case I did some Google searching and found similar advice - blame it on Win 8.1. I then stumbled onto a very accurate response that nailed the problem for me. I thought I would pass it on for those who may be having similar issues, or just want to tweak their system to best internet performance. Go to Control Panel, Device Manager, Network Adaptors, and open your adapter. Under the Advanced tab select Speed & Duplex. I found mine set to Auto Negotiation. It appears that this Auto Negotiation can slow your ping and even download time as it seems to take some time to get the negotiation done. I manually set my speed at first to 100 Mbps Half Duplex (which is what the poster said worked for him), but for me that didn't work at all. I then tried 100 Mbps Full Duplex, and Bingo. Ping time improved to 6 ms, download was 24.7, and upload 3.0. I am presuming that when you go the manual setting route, you have to match the communication protocol of the network adaptor. And when you manually set it, it speeds things up.
Speedtest.net by Ookla - My Results
Hope that is of some help to others,