wtf..why does my internet drop?
 

k so i just bought a brand new router [D-Link DIR-655] i've got 3 computers on most of the day connected to it, then i have either my 360 or PS3 on sometimes, everything is wired except for my laptop which i've been using the wireless connection on

this used to happen with my old WRT-300N router as well, but the wireless signal was very weak and i think the router was coming to it's end anyways

but even with this stupid brand new router occasionally while surfing the web i notice that pages slow down and stop loading all together, the net then kinda drops out, if i give it a minute or 2 it will pop back up, the pages i was waiting for will load, and things like MSN, utorrent, etc. will all pop back up and open since they just reconnected

how can i fix this?

Hard to say. You have to first figure out where the problem is.

Is the problem only on one specific computer, or does it happen on all computers?

If it's one computer only, then you know it's not the router or Internet connection. If it's all computers, then you need to troubleshoot further.

On the computers connected by wire, does the network connection actually drop or not?

right before i posted that message both my laptop and PC which are right next to eachother dropped at the exact same time

so im on my PC, click on a link and it starts to load but goes no where, then i look over at my laptop [which is wireless] and both MSN messanger and Yahoo messanger sign themselves out a few seconds after, so im sitting there just watching them

shortly after MSN and yahoo on my laptop sign back in, then my MSN on my PC signs back in as well

so it's obviously a problem for all components stemming from router/modem because it seems to effect every component when it happens at the same time

But does the wireless adapter on the laptop and the network adapter on the PC actually get disconnected, or is just MSN and Yahoo messenger etc. loses connection?

If it's just the Internet that loses connectivity, then you have a problem with your Internet connection.

If you're actually being disconnected from your router, then you have a problem with your router. It might be rebooting itself every so often for some reason.

hmm thats true..

how can i test the connectivity between the router and the computers?

i almost have a feeling that it's the modem itself, because during the time both the PC and laptop dropped, a movie was streaming on my PS3 through windows media player on my laptop, it was uninterupted i belive..

but does windows media buffer a certain portion when streaming to PS3?

Well, easiest way is when you have the problem, look in your tasktray and see if the wireless or network icons shows disconnection.

Or I guess another definitive way is to open two command prompt windows, and one of them, run "ping <router IP> -t" and the other run "ping www.google.ca -t" and when the problem happens, see if one or both of them stop getting replies.

If your router still replies, then for sure the connection to your router is fine, but the Internet connection is dead. If neither of them replies, then your router is causing the problem.

is it a common problem at all for somthing like this due to be caused by a modem?

my shaw modem is probably at least 3 years old, its the older green surfboard style or w/e