As PPRuNe Towers has said, a lot of effort is being put in to sort the problem. It IS true that PPRuNe is a little slower. I am suffrin the same problem, and it is very frustrating, but do rest assured that the Towers are top of it and I think you will see a big difference sooner rather than later. Takes a helluva a lot of money to keep the site running too.
Please be patient. Your favourite site will be all better soon!
As far as IE is concerned, we have stated often enough that a change of browser will be of enormous benefit. I now use Opera and it is good - well better than IE I can assure you.
BTW, my broadband is still opertaing at 576kbps.