GmuSoft - Gerhard Mueller Software Development

Internet Access from Linux Slow -
from Windows on the same PC Fast

Problem Description

You have installed Windows as well as Linux on one and the same PC.
Internet access from Windows (e.g., Windows 98 oder Windows XP) is very fast - internet pages show up almost immediately.

But from Linux (e.g., SuSE Linux 9.0 or SuSE Linux 10.0) internet pages build up sluggishly slow.

Reason

There are several reasons that lead to this effect:

Network Parameters

When the network parameters MTU, MRU, or MSS are improperly set, this may lead to slow data transfer from/to the internet, or may even make certain servers unreachable.

You find a description in MTU, MRU and MSS in Linux.

Communikation with a Router

When the connection to the internet is via a router, a communication problem between Linux and the router may be the reason that internet pages build up very (very!) slowly.
So slowly that you might even have a cup of coffee before a page is shown on the screen.

This may possibly be a problem of name resolution (translation of names such as www.xxx.de into IP-addresses) and of the Network Address Translation (NAT) facility of the router.

You find a description and a possible solution to the problem in Slow Internet Access from SUSE Linux 9.0 and 10.0 through router DrayTek Vigor 2500We.