Having trouble keeping a connection at home using charter.net hispeed in southern Illinois - connection keeps dropping off even though sometimes in the bottom tray it'll say that wireless network connection is very good or even excellent. We have a Gateway PC connected directly to the modem and generally use one wireless laptop - both get disconnected numerous times during the day. We've pulled the power plug on modem to reset as well as "repair" the connection. Most of the time these work - but it's extremely frustrating. Is this an indication modem is bad, or could it possibly be the hi-speed cable with Charter has been damaged - ie, outside line in the yard??

Thanks...roo

Have you called Charter?

They can at least run some basic tests for you to determine the issue.

Yes called them this morning, amazingly got thru almost right away. The agent said my line looked good, but did not offer any diagnostic testing.
I guess I'll call back.....
odd thing, later, after lost connection again, I did a "repair" on the connection, but it would not connect, so i disconnected the power cord from the router this time, instead of the modem and poof - got a connection with the router unplugged - very low, but still worked???
The router is connected to my PC, so the PC had no connection.

Is this a new problem? Did this setup ever work okay for you?

Assuming you added the router your ISP will most likely not offer support on anything beyond their modem.

You might ask them if they provide a wireless modem/router.

This would be a combo unit and is often preferable to a split modem plus router.

Anyway just a thought you can ask.

If multiple computers exhibit the same behavior it indicates an issue with the modem or router or your ISP or perhaps the setup of the above.

As noted most ISPs will not offer support on networks but you might as well ask.

I've had both these 2 units - modem and router since Nov03 when Charter set the units up. So it may just be the age and wearing out - but trying to figure out which one is causing the problem is part of the difficulty???

I would try to connect your laptop directly to your modem and test that. Those modems do where out so I agree with jephree to see if they will replace it.