Random Connection Issues

[bluemicrobyte]

So lately I've been getting hit by random connection issues - completely randomly I'll be seemingly disconnected from the internet for about 5-10 seconds and then everything will be fine again. My brother - whos on the same internet connection - also reports these random internet cutouts. We're both connected via a cable internet connection which is split by a Linksys 802.11g speed booster router. He's using a Linksys 802.11g wireless PCI adapter and I'm on a D-link 802.11b PCI adapter. Both systems are running windows xp home with all windows updates and the latest driver versions for network adapter cards.

Could this be a router issue or a modem issue? or something else?

[Neo]

Modem issue. More then likely.

See if you can check its logs (if it has any normal format for logs) and see if its running into any problems.

In my experience, the cable company will be of no help, so if it continues (which it might) you might start looking into DSL.

My experience with this kind of a problem was with poor wiring I think, or something. Whats strange is, the service worked fine for months, then suddenly started crapping out randomly. =/

-Neo

[WeekendLazyness]

So lately I've been getting hit by random connection issues - completely randomly I'll be seemingly disconnected from the internet for about 5-10 seconds and then everything will be fine again. My brother - whos on the same internet connection - also reports these random internet cutouts. We're both connected via a cable internet connection which is split by a Linksys 802.11g speed booster router. He's using a Linksys 802.11g wireless PCI adapter and I'm on a D-link 802.11b PCI adapter. Both systems are running windows xp home with all windows updates and the latest driver versions for network adapter cards.

Could this be a router issue or a modem issue? or something else?
Having a 802.11b NIC on a 802.11g network will slow the whole network down to 802.11b speeds.

[bluemicrobyte]

Modem issue. More then likely.

See if you can check its logs (if it has any normal format for logs) and see if its running into any problems.

In my experience, the cable company will be of no help, so if it continues (which it might) you might start looking into DSL.

My experience with this kind of a problem was with poor wiring I think, or something. Whats strange is, the service worked fine for months, then suddenly started crapping out randomly. =/

-Neo

They did recently do "maintenance" on the local cable or something which cut out the cable for a day in my area.......

And the modem has no sort of logs - or if it does I don't know how to access them. Isn't the modem a standalone piece of equipment that can't be accessed by the PC? or is it...............

Having a 802.11b NIC on a 802.11g network will slow the whole network down to 802.11b speeds.

Really? Even if the router is 802.11g and theres a direct connection between it and the 802.11g computers? I'd think that only the computer with the b card would be slowed down - at least for internet connection. File transfers will obviously be capped by the lowest computer involved in the transfer, but I wouldn't think that the entire network would be kept down all the time.....

[Neo]

Depends on the Modem, but most have a diagnostics page/etc... to look at it.

Just google your modems brand, or check out www.broadbandreports.com, which holds a wealth of knowledge on all things BB.

-Neo

[ChrisPatuzzo]

Dnt, no wheter it will be any help, but i woul make sure youve scanned your computer for viruses/spyware etc, as i had a similar problem a while back.

[WeekendLazyness]

Make sure your modem/router isn't overheating (ample airflow around it).

Really? Even if the router is 802.11g and theres a direct connection between it and the 802.11g computers? I'd think that only the computer with the b card would be slowed down - at least for internet connection. File transfers will obviously be capped by the lowest computer involved in the transfer, but I wouldn't think that the entire network would be kept down all the time.....Well if you think about it, all wireless connections are handeled by the router: if you're transfering a file from one to another, the packets will travel through the router on their way (this applies only for infrasturcture networks). Anyways, these wireless connections are handled by one chip, and this chip can't push data faster than the slowest computer can recieve it. This would cause data corruption and lost packets on that slowest computer. The reason this isn't true for wired networks is because each cable is physically separated in the router.

[bluemicrobyte]

Weekend: I mean what if there are 3 computers - two 802.11g's and 1 b computer. Does transfer between the two 802.11g's get slowed down just because there's a b computer linked to the router? The information never passes through the b computer - it goes straight past it via the router. So *in theory* only data that has anything to do with the b computer gets slowed down.

Dnt, no wheter it will be any help, but i woul make sure youve scanned your computer for viruses/spyware etc, as i had a similar problem a while back.

I appreciate the concern, but I, the mighty bluemicrobyte, do not ever have spyware and/or viruses on my computer :P

I keep having to state this everytime I have a tech problem and someone suggests a spyware scan :P

(I frequently scan with multiple programs including ad-aware, spybot, easycleaner, spysweeper, microsoft anti-spyware, norton, etc and I know how to recognize spyware the instant it lands on my computer - at which point it gets phazed out of existance instantly by my uber anti-spyware skills)

[WeekendLazyness]

The transfer will get slowed down. Even though there's no data transfering to the b computer, there's still the TCP/IP and 802.11 overhead such that the b computer is transfering packets to the router anyways. This means the router has to keep an 802.11b connection to all wireless cards at all times.

[bluemicrobyte]

So then the moment I turn off the b computer, the router will match the speed of the rest of the network? And the moment I turn on the b computer, the router will slow down all connections to b speed? interesting...... very interesting......