Question : Need help troubleshooting slow DSL bandwidth

We have DSL service for 256 download capability and about half that for upload.  We consistently get only 132 kpbs when we test the service using the site our provider suggests.  We have worked with our telephone service and did the following:

1.) Ran AdAware and removed everything it found
2.) Ran NoAdware and removed everything it found
3.) Ran a spybot program and cleaned up.

We have cleanup/defrag on a regular schedule.

The phone company came out and connected a lap top directly to our router and they got 214 download when the ran the test.

They had no idea what might be causing the problem. We called the help desk of our provider and they said "Must be hardware - can't help".

We have 2 relatively new DELLs networked together sharing access - but we get the same speed when one is powered down.  We run Windows XP Pro.

Please give me some suggestions as to what else we can look at to try to get the speed we're paying for.

Thanks!
CEKMAN

Answer : Need help troubleshooting slow DSL bandwidth

your problem is kind of weird.  you may want to check this faq for solution.
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/faq

generally, you can find many information as well as tweak programs to help improving your dsl performance on dslreports.com.

good luck