Home network issues

I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum for this...I wasn't sure which one I should be posting it in.

Anyways, I have been having some home network issues.

To put it simply, my internet seems to "stall out" or stop working every 5-10 minutes.

It will be moving along just fine, then 5-10 minutes later, pages will just stop loading. If I let it go for 2-3 minutes, it picks back up and starts working again. Turning the wifi off and back on on my devices seems to speed the "reconnection" process along. The wifi signal itself seems fine, devices stay connected to the router the entire time.

I have also noticed that it doesn't affect my Apple TV. I have my Apple TV connected directly to the router via ethernet cable. I can be streaming a TV show from MacBook Air to the Apple TV wirelessly with AirPlay mirroring on, and while the internet stops working, the streaming continues unbothered.

I have noticed that this isn't specific to my MacBook Air. The same thing happens when I have my iPhone connected to my home network wifi.

It almost seems like my ISP is "throttling" my connection or something. I called them and they said everything is fine on their end. I had this thought because this all started about 2 weeks ago, and it seemed to happen when I booted up Vuze one time. I have used Vuze for several years without issue. I recently updated it, and this last time that I started it up after updating it, it gave me a weird internet pop-up to some strange Chinese website. I didn't think much of it. But I did notice that when I would start Vuze, my Vuze transfers would work, but my internet browsers would basicly stop working. This would happen off and on - I would quit and restart Vuze a bunch of times and eventutally everything would work. I thought maybe my ISP was noticing that I was using Vuze and started throttling my connection. It's weird...it almost seems like Vuze gave my "network" a virus or something like that. I have run antivirus software, I've run system utilities to repair permissions and clean up junk files...none of that resolved the issue.

I reset/power cycled both my cable modem and my router several times.

My next thought was that my router was failing. It's an older Netgear A/B/G router. Not a big deal. I was due for an upgrade to an N router anyways. I went out and bought a $30 Netgear A/B/G/N router. Installed it, power cycled the cable modem again for good measure. Nothing. Still having the same issues.

My only other thought is the cable modem. I called my ISP a month or two ago inquiring about upgrading my connection speed. Turns out I have the fastest speed they offer. But they did notice that my cable modem (which I own...they lease their own cable modems to customers for $5/mo...or at least they used to charge for it) is a "DOCSIS 2.0". During that call, and every call I've made to them since then, they keep trying to get me to go to the local storefront they have so I can pick up a DOCSIS 3.0 modem. They aren't charging monthly fees for their modems anymore, I just haven't wanted to go out of my way to pick up a new modem since mine has been working just fine, and I don't want the hassle of returning the modem to them if I ever cancel my service. But I'm just going to bite the bullet and go get the modem tonight.

Assuming it isn't the cable modem and the issue continues...any thoughts as to what could be causing this? My only other thought is that Vuze is somehow causing it, but I have force quit the app, restarted my computer, I don't see it running at all...I don't know if it could somehow be running in the background without me seeing it? I haven't tried uninstalling it (as its ususally a great app and I like using it). Maybe I will give that a try next.

 

It ended up being the cable modem.

I called in a few weeks ago to see what internet speed I was signed up for and to see if they could boost my speed. Well, they boosted my speed, and while doing that they also changed something in my signal. They kept trying to get me to go to the local ISP office and pick up a new modem. I never did...I had my own modem, and everything was working fine, so I didn't bother with the new modem. Well, they must have finally "flipped the switch" on my signal, and my current DOCSIS 2.0 modem could no longer adequately handle the signal, so I had to go and pick up a DOCSIS 3.0 modem. Fortunately, they aren't charging a $5/mo lease fee for their modems anymore, so it isn't a big deal.

Related story: I got the modem home, called in to have it activated, and apparently the MAC ID on the modem was still associated with someone else's account. The first CS rep said I should take the modem back and exchange for a different one. That didn't really make sense to me and I didn't want to make another trip to the office. I figured that the last user didn't want their account associated with a piece of hardware they no longer posessed. It seemed as simple as "disassociating" the hardware with that account, and putting it on MY account. After waiting 30 minutes on hold, I was hung up on (I was EXTREMELY kind and patient this entire time as I have been in CS and I know this issue wasn't that rep's fault...I never raised my voice once, said please and thank you several times). Never got a call back. I finally called back in, got a different rep...problem was resolved in 5 minutes.