Why am I getting a slow internet connection all of a sudden?

[Matt]

I have comcast internet (26 Mbps), a desktop and a laptop. I have a netgear wireless internet adapter for my desktop. Both desktop and laptop are windows vista. I've had all this for about 6 months or so.
My desktop used to always get great connection (using speedtest.net I was always getting a good 24-26 Mbps connection). My desktop (which I play online games on) started getting a low 5-8 Mbps connection and with that it takes forever for web pages to load and I always disconnect from my online game before I can even get in a server. I've tried several things like defrag, virus scans, and using avg tuneup to find and fix problems. I've even recovered the pc (deleting everything on the hdd and reinstalling windows). I began to think the the netgear wireless adapter wasn't working right so I used it on my laptop and it works perfectly (getting the 26 Mbps connection, no slow web pages, and no DCing from my online game). but my laptop is laggy for gaming and thats why I use my desktop. Before I started getting the slow net I do what I always do (get on and play online then shut down and without installing anything). It just randomly got slow and It's unusable at that state.
Also, the desktop has had a slow connection for about 3-4 weeks. So, I don't think It's the company since the desktop is the only pc getting a slow connection. But I don't know

[Raniane]

All internet connections are this way, it's probably from pressure on the company

[Kishan P]

You could try using a hard wired connection via Ethernet cable. You could also try changing the channel of your broadcasting signal on the router as if there are multiple devices in your area on the same channel there may be interference. Otherwise contact your internet provider. I had the same problem with Bell. I was paying for 50mbps download and only got 22mbps download. So I switched to Rogers and I now get 40mbps download and 10mbps upload with 300bg bandwidth all for $45. its a crazy promotion without a contract.