Online connection turtle-slow

[Jim Kvarnberg]

When I clicked "online banking" in my bank website or some other places 
that require my login ID and password before I could open them, it took 
'forever' to open them.  I got tired of staring at a mouse point icon 
wheel going round and round for a long time.  I fed up and went across a 
room to my laptop computer with wireless connection (its OS is Windows 
XP) to open the connection to the same places ... bingo they opened up 
real fast, beating the Ubuntu 8.10 amd64 operated computer.  What was 
wrong?  Any suggestion for solving the problem?  It will be 
appreciated.  Thank you.  Jim
PS I want to stick to using the Ubuntu system.