compared to work.

Of course, the over six-year-old netbook might have something to do with it, too.

I still have my 2 ASUS EEE PCs, though. One is connected to the HD screen. The other just sits on a desk, switched off but waiting...
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Birds are territorial creatures.
The lyrics to the songbird's melodious trill go something like this:
"Stay out of my territory or I'll PECK YOUR GODDAMNED EYES OUT!"[/center][/font][hr]

what happens is that windoze inherently clutters itself.
A fresh reinstall will make it as fast as it was out of the box.

I've had people bring in their machine that was taking over 5 minutes to boot up.
By the time I cleaned out the junk files, removed crap from startup that didn't need to be there, etc., it would boot up in under 45 seconds.

After two moves.

it's been a long time since i negotiated a home internet contract, but typically the way it goes (or used to go) is you buy access to data rates up to the listed speed, not "at least" the listed speed, not "averaging out" at the listed speed, but rather at most the listed speed. if a switch goes down at the ISP and your data has to be re-routed through a contingency ADSL line instead of running over its usual T3 WAN, you're not going to get your super-high-speed internet and the ISP isn't liable for your inconvenience. that's how it used to be, anyway.

Especially if I'm paying for it.
If you pay more for a certain speed and it doesn't even run as fast as a lower tier with a lower price, I'd be raising hell with the provider too.

if you document consistently poor network performance (as the person in the OP did) and show your provider, i'd expect there would be some compensatory action to keep you from taking your business elsewhere, but it would be a marketing maneuver rather than a legally required action.

when they try to give me what I call Standard Answer 35B.

In the near future I will be dumping AT&T when Google fiber activates in my neighborhood.

When I was originally with Southwestern Bell, we never had the problems that started after AT&T took over.

That would be one thing, but they only mention to peak speed. ISPs opt to not upgrade their networks, therefore they can fuck off.

Some people have actual work to do...

Go get a modem and play Call of Duty

Hovers around 107/108.

No speedtests under 100, so far.

I am sure you have noticed that XFinity WiFi popping up everywhere.

The way they go about it is that they also use the modems that they rent out to people to broadcast a wifi signal that is available for XFinity WiFi customers.

So, if you have Comcast, if you have their newer modems, that thing broadcasts a wifi signal that is not yours without you knowing.