I hope I'm not asking a tiresomely common question here-- my search through this group so far has not turned up any information that directly addresses my problem.
I have a DSL connection with AT&T and an Actiontec DSL modem/wireless hub. All the computers on my network are Macintoshes running OS X.
My problem, which I have not observed before with other DSL providers and different networking equipment, is an approximately ten-second lag before connecting with a website, if the last communication on the network was with a different site. If the last exchange was with the same site, there is no such lag.
So for instance if I search something using Google, I can expect a >10 second delay before the Google search window pops up. When I enter a search term, the results appear almost instantly. If I keep paging through the results, it's all very fast. But when I click through to another site, that >10 second delay reoccurs. And then when I go back to Google, I get another delay.
I'm beginning to get a sense of the hours and hours of wasted time this all adds up to, and I wish I could figure out how to avoid the lag every time I connect with a different site than the one I last hit. As I said, I never noticed any such lag on my earlier household networks, and when I use my laptop on other wireless networks, it does not occur.
Is this likely to be something my DSL modem is doing, or is it my internet connection itself? If it's the modem, is there anything I can do to fix it other than get a new modem?
If I do need a different DSL modem, can anybody recommend a good fast one that will play nice with my Macs?
Please accept my thanks for any advice you can provide.
Chalo