That's what was really strange, mail/news/ftp/irc servers all worked (albeit very slowly, when the main server was very slow or didn't work), cept for a few minutes when the cable signal itself was so bad the screen was pixelating, was just the browser/http stuff that was wierd. Most of the time it only slowed down from 2500 to 300, happened to get a 24 at one time before it died altogether, and at those speeds it still sort of worked but very slowly, was only once in a while when it got even slower/stopped/just an error message. Makes me wonder if there is a minimum speed requirement for different types of servers. At any rate, from the OP's post and what was happening here, seemed sort of similar.
PS The guy was here today, and when he went up the pole and disconnected the cable, water came out. He cut a few feet off, put new ends on, reconnected it and now it is working (jury is still out on whether it's just working, or gonna be working/fine, next time it rains)...