Cable modem resetting

[forest]

My cable connection slows to a crawl, or stops, every 15, 20 or 30 minutes. Resetting the modem (Motorola 4200) often brings the speed back up, but not always. My line S/N and voltage are OK, but packet loss is usually 2-6%, and much worse when speed slows or stops. Trace route varies, but first hop always times out. This didn't change after a software firewall was recently installed. I'm using WinME, IE 5.5, NIC.

My main questions are these - What happens when the modem is reset, and why is it necessary? Thanks.

(BTW, Charter says it's a bad modem. Motorola says it's a bad line, or insufficient bandwidth. It happened with the 3100 modem I had before, also.)

[mnosteele52]

Welcome to Speedguide:D, most likely Motorola is correct. If you continuosly lose your signal it's most commonly a line problem, call your ISP and have them come out and check things out.:) ;)

[forest]

Thanks. I'll do that. Motorola did sound more credible than Charter.

[onnyxs]

Before they come out one thing you can do to put your mind at ease is to contact your local ISP (if you live fairly close to them) and inform them of your problem and they will let you bring your old modem in a swap out for a new one. I had the same problem and they camme out three times to check the lines and even to replace it with new fiber optic cable lines and my problem ended up being that the modem was bad all along.:D

Won't hurt to try

[legalmind]

Low signal to modem.
Line problem.
If they have used a spilter for TV and modem.
Make sure the modem is on the minus 3 db and the TV or Tv's is on the minus 7 db side. Check to see if you have any barrel connections on your modem line.(no/no)
Many cable guys are famous for making bad "f" connections on the end of your cable.
Have them reset your modem like you are a brand new account at their end.
When they do this, unplug modem and shut off computer. If you have a router,power it off.
After they reset, power up modem,then router and then computer.
If that fails, time to come out and or also get a new modem.....