Maximum PC

I have been having problems with dropped connections lately with my DSL, the internet will just drop for anywhere between 10 seconds and a couple minutes. I have Frontier DSL on a westell 6100 modem and a Linksys WRT54G wireless router (updated firmware). I have a desktop (win 7) and a Xbox 360 wired to the router, and 2 laptops (1 win 7, 1 XP) wirelessly connected. The internet will drop on wired and wireless, and it it is just internet that is dropping; I can still can connect to local stuff like the homegroup.

So my first plan of action: connect directly to the modem. It takes forever to connect to the internet, but finally does. Then it loses it. Question I have about this is, would changing the modem to bridge mode or whatever I did back in the day to get my router to work affect my internet access if I try to connect directly to the modem?

Second plan of action; reset modem/router. Didn't work, still randomly dropping. Out of curiosity, why does this ever work? Why would these devices need to be reset to start working again?

This has been very frustrating, I wish I knew more about this kind of thing, but I just don't know what the problem is. I am pretty swamped with school work right now, so I was hoping to get some advice and input before I try and tackle this problem. So what does this sound like to you guys? It makes me think the DSL is the problem, but I have no idea.

One thing worth mentioning is the Xbox. The problem has seemed to come up when playing Xbox. This problem of random, frequent drops has occurred twice in the last week that I know about. Both times it started out when I was playing Xbox. This may very well be a coincidence, but I thought it would be worth mentioning. Also Halo reach has been telling me that sometimes my NAT type is not open. Sometimes it is, other times it isn't. I opened all the ports, but I don't think I have a static IP address for my Xbox. Something I have been meaning to check out, but haven't had the time. Anyway, no idea if this may have any effect.

So that is pretty much the situation, I posted previously about this, but that post was pure frustration, so I thought I would start a new one more level headed. I am really just looking for input as to what this issue might be. My instinct says it is the DSL, and I should bitch them out right away, but I know nothing about the workings of DSL. Lets say it is the DSL, for some reason I am getting a very spotting, frequently interrupted DSL connection. It would have to be the modem right? I mean it is not like I can call them up, tell them the problem, and they say, oh sorry, here, now you have a nice smooth DSL stream. It would have to be, oh your modem probably needs to be replaced, since we mass produce those shitty little things with little quality control.

So to some it all up:
1. Is random periods of frequent internet drops sound like a router or modem issue?
2. Does changing the modem setting to make your router work affect internet access when directly connected to modem?
3. What is so magical about reseting the modem/router?
4. Can it be an Xbox/Nat type/port open/static vs dynamic IP address issue?
5. If not router, is it modem or a service provider issue?

Really my goal is almost more learn how this shit works, then get my DSL working again. So please, any information/input/advice would help me out a lot.

1. If you hadn't eliminated the router from the equation by hooking directly into the DSL bridge (it's not really a modem, but I won't argue semantics too much ) I would say that it could be either the router or the modem. Since you did remove the router from the loop though I would say that it's doubtful it's causing the issue although I'm not entirely certain it's necessarily the DSL modem.

2. It would. When you change the modem to bridge mode it stops acting as a DHCP server and doing any routing duties. I may have misread it but did you change the settings on the modem back to the default when you hooked directly into it?

3. Routers are really nothing more than highly specialized PCs. Your WRT54G actually has a CPU, RAM, NVRAM (for storage) and an operating system. So it's possible for them to have issues with the operating system that require a reset of the router. I don't have it happen very often with my Linksys routers but it can happen.

4. I doubt that it's your Xbox affecting your entire connection since it sounds like it also happens when you're not using the XBox. The easiest way to make sure that you have open NAT show up on your 360 is to establish a DMZ and set your XBox to use the static IP that's assigned to that DMZ. However I very much doubt that it's the cause of your problems.

5. It's pretty tough to narrow it down between the modem and the service provider without replacing the modem. I would recommend giving your service provider a call and see what they can do to help resolve the issue. Make sure you tell them that you've already attempted to bypass the router in your setup and the issue still occurred. Every single ISP that I've had to go through for tech support I have to do this since it's the first thing that they ask, that along with resetting the modem. There are a few possibilities though:

1) Your modem is having some issues and needs to be replaced
2) You're on a higher speed plan than what your line can actually handle. What speed plan are you on and do you know how far you are from the CO?
3) There are issues with the line itself either inside or outside of your household, or some of the equipment that it goes through before reaching the CO (DSLAMs etc.)

No I haven't tried changing the settings of the modem back to default, I will try that next time I experience I period of frequent drops. My plan is I think for 3MBPS download speeds. I am not sure exactly how close I am, but when I signed up, the sales guys said I was real close. I just tested it at 2.68MBPS. Yeah I plan to call tech support when i have some time. Thanks for all the help.