slow network

[Nathan Langford <nathanl_(_at_)_eden_(_dot_)_rutgers_(_dot_)_edu>]

I am running openbsd on a P133 and using it as a gateway for the three
computers in the house.  Up until recently everything was going great, but
now I keep getting wierdnesses.  I query external nameservers for
hostnames and I'm wondering if that could be one cause for slowness - if
the nameservers are too slow.

I don't know why, but dhclient did not get the proper nameservers from
optimum online; that's why I'm using external nameservers in the first
place.

When I ssh to my obsd box, it often hangs for over a minute before
proceeding with the shell prompt.

pings to the outside world from behind the gateway often respond with up
to 70% packet loss.

I'm new to network administration, so I'm not sure where the problem is -
tweaking something?, P133 is just too slow?, must set up named? ...

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

+++++++++++++++++
Nathan Langford
nathanl_(_at_)_eden_(_dot_)_rutgers_(_dot_)_edu