is it more than just the internet (web, email) or it is when you bring up microsoft word and solitaire?
whether you got to www.thechipboard.com or www.google.com it still turns the website into an address (DNS) and figures out how to get there (routing) and then pulls the data back (bandwidth) and renders it on the page (computer processing).

Try going to www.speedtest.net and post the results. That might take at least ONE of the variables out of the equation.