Strange internet connect activity

I recently moved house, and I have set a new cable internet connection.
System preferences shows that:

"Built-in Ethernet is currently active and has the IP address XXX. You
are connected to the internet via Built-in Ethernet."

The problem is that the internet pages time out in both Safari and
Internet Explorer. The strange thing is that Apple Mail, MSN Messenger
and file sharing networks function at a rate which the activity monitor
shows to be around 60kb/s. Surely this is enough for web pages to load.
I use a different connection at work, and travel a lot through work
using wifi to connect. I have never come across such a contradiction
before. Can anyone advise?