Is my connection supposed to be this bad?

i have just received a new inspiron e1405 with an Intel Proset/Wireless card and although i can access the internet , it is amazingly sluggish. i have a cable modem and have never experienced this type of lethargic internet connections with any of my previous laptops. also, my aol instant messenger does not allow me to look at people's profiles. The "profile loading" text appears only to give way to an error which then leads to a dropped Aim connection.

help?