Internet connection shuts down after graphics-intensive browsing

[tom962]

I visit various pages on Tumblr, a photo/video sharing community with pages full of thumbnails and animated GIFs. It's a very graphics-intensive site. Unfortunately, after 15 minutes or so of browsing various Tumblr pages and viewing videos and GIFs there, my Internet connection stops. I then reboot and can only view more "regular" pages that have minimal graphics. When I go back to Tumblr, my Internet connection shuts off again after one or two page visits. This is very frustrating, and it appears that FIOS has very strict data usage limits per session - which I was never told about. Any thoughts/comments/fixes would be much appreciated. Thanks.  

[somegirl]

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@tom962 wrote:

I visit various pages on Tumblr, a photo/video sharing community with pages full of thumbnails and animated GIFs. It's a very graphics-intensive site. Unfortunately, after 15 minutes or so of browsing various Tumblr pages and viewing videos and GIFs there, my Internet connection stops. I then reboot and can only view more "regular" pages that have minimal graphics. When I go back to Tumblr, my Internet connection shuts off again after one or two page visits. This is very frustrating, and it appears that FIOS has very strict data usage limits per session - which I was never told about. Any thoughts/comments/fixes would be much appreciated. Thanks.  

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FiOS does not have data usage limits.

Have you tried clearing your browser cache? Have you tried a different browser? What security software are you using? Are you using OpenDNS or anything like it that could limit usage?

[tom962]

Thanks for the quick reply. I use Firefox (haven't tried Explorer or Chrome yet), and the browser cleans itself out everytime I close it. My security software is Malwarebytes and MSE. I use Windows 10, which I recently upgraded to. This is only a recent problem. I don't know if it has to do with my recent upgrade to Win 10, Verizon's unsuccessful attempt to install Quantum (we reverted back to my 75/75 router), or neither.  

Any other tips would be appreciated. Thank you again.

[somegirl]

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@tom962 wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply. I use Firefox (haven't tried Explorer or Chrome yet), and the browser cleans itself out everytime I close it. My security software is Malwarebytes and MSE. I use Windows 10, which I recently upgraded to. This is only a recent problem. I don't know if it has to do with my recent upgrade to Win 10, Verizon's unsuccessful attempt to install Quantum (we reverted back to my 75/75 router), or neither.  

Any other tips would be appreciated. Thank you again.

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Ew, Windows 10. Sadly, I don't think I can be a huge help, because I spent 30 minutes helping the MIL roll back from 10 and that was more than enough time in it for me.

Based on some quick Google searching, though, I wonder if your connection has been set to metered within Windows? Here's an article I found on turning it on/off, so hopefully you can check the status using the info:

http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3162-wireless-network-metered-connection-set-windows-10-a.html

If not, I'm sure someone more experienced with W10 will be along with better info. Good luck!

[tom962]

Hi Somegirl - I really appreciate your help. Unfortunately, I'm still stuck. I tried using another browser for Tumblr, and also checked out the site you linked to, and it turns out my connection is not metered - so that's not the issue, I'm afraid.

Anyway, I went to a bunch of graphics-intensive sites using another browser, and once again, after about 10-15 minutes, I could no longer connect.

Any other tips/advice would be appreciated. Thanks again!

[JustinG1]

Hello! Sorry for your issue, would it be possible that you have another laptop/computer laying around the house? Or maybe borrow a friends? Do the same thing on the other computer and see if it happens again. If it does, its something wrong with the network. If it dosen't, its something wrong with the computer. This sounds like an issue with the computer to me, not so much the connection.

In the past I have transfered multiple HUGE files (more than 5+ hours of Tumblur would ever use most likely) all at the same time and I have never seen a drop in performance with my FiOS connection.

However, loading GIFs and Videos and such into a browser can really overload the computer and sometimes bring it to a grinding hault depending on your computer's specs.

I wish I could be of more help for you operating system but I haven't touched Windows 10 yet, so like the other poster when it comes to that I may not be able to help much. (100% linux user here)

[tom962]

Justin - thank you for this suggestion. I also have a laptop, and will run a test tonight when I get home to see if it gives me the same problems as my desktop. If it happens to be the computer that's at fault, rather than the network, do you happen to know of any settings I could adjust that would help? On the one hand, my desktop is about two and a half years old - so not a new computer. But it's definitely not a clunker either, and these issues didn't exist until recently.

Thank you again.

Tom

[eljefe2]

I am another Windows 7 user who is resisting upgrading to Win 10 so I have no direct experience with this suggestion. However, if Win 10 has a similar Windows Task Manager to that in Win 7, you might fire it up and go to the "Performance" tab.

See if you're maxing out your CPU usage or your available Memory.

You might also find a utility that measures your CPU temperature and make sure it's not becoming overheated from processing all those graphics.

[tom962]

Thank you. I will try that as well.

Best,

Tom

[tom962 · Accepted solution]

Thank you to everyone for your help. I fixed the problem, which was basically my own doing. I discovered my desktop had an Ethernet connection. I disconnected that and used wifi only. The wifi works smoothly on all my devices. I should have been a little more diligent before even posting here! Anyway, thanks again for your time and for your assistance!