Squid and bandwidth test results

Hi All.

I'm running PFSense latest snapshot on a Dell R300 with 2GB RAM, AMD Proc, and 2 / 70GB, 10k rpm hard drives. (cable company)

I've just had to remove Squid (Stable Release) because of bandwidth issues. Squid was configured as simple as possible and according to instructions in the How To docs section. I have set the cache for Squid to a little over 8GB and Memory usage to 1024.

Our connection is a 3Mbit connection and with Squid turned on, during bandwidth test, the results hover around 700kbits and 1.5mbits. Upload was not an issue with squid.

With Squid service turned off, the results are the same. With tweaking, the results are the same.

With Squid service removed, bandwidth test now shows downloads at a little over 3mbits.

Has anyone encountered the same and what was the solution? I'm sorry I don't have the time to dig deeper, as the nature of the beast keeps me busy with the kids whining for every little thing. (it's just occurred to me how developers feel from time to time..heh,heh)