I have cable internet at the moment and my internet constantly goes out. Everyday and usually at night. I'm not very savvy when it comes to this kin of stuff, so what can I do about this? Should I try switching to DSL? I've read something about having both cable and DSL and connecting them to a dual WAN router. So what is my best option on getting reliable internet in my area?

Have you talked to your cable company about the issue?

They just suggested a technician. It's weird, my parents live 5 minutes away and they have the same ISP and never have any problems. I don't know if it's because I live a little lower in the valley or what.

If you have wired internet going into your house, I don't think that would matter. Now if you had wireless internet, location could be an issue.

If a tech visit is free or relatively cheap, I'd take them up on it.

So my modem could be fine? It could be a wireless problem? Does that mean I need a better wireless router?

You didn't make it clear as to what kind of internet service do you have. Is it wireless in that the cable company delivers it to your house wirelessly or is it wired in that there is a cable running from the street into your house.

If it is wired service, I would definitely get the provider involved.

What are you doing when it goes out? Look for things in common because if you call a tech in the more info you give him the more help he can be.

Also, the more info you can give us, the more help we can be.

I have a modem that has a phone line and cable line plugged in. Both run outside. Sorry. I don't know what else to look for.

You are fine.

You mention that your parents have the same provider but is their setup the same? Meaning do they have both phone and cable running into the modem? If they don't have the same setup, you might try unplugging the phone line from the modem and see what happens.

If you get no drops during the time the phone line is unplugged when you would normally get drops with the phone line plugged in, then the phone line is a leading candidate for causing the issues.

Thanks Doc! I will try that and let you know how it works out.

So just took out phone line and internet still running. Gonna leave it out all night and see if I have any problems tonight. So what is the reason the phone line is in the modem anyways?

I'm guessing you have VOIP phone service and I guess having the phone line plugged in there is necessary for that type of service. VOIP stands for voice over internet protocol.

Understand that I am just guessing as to the reason because I still have wired phone service.

I would plug the phone line back in before you go to bed. If you haven't lost internet at all before you go to bed, I'd leave the phone line in tomorrow and see if you experience any outages.

I have done the speedtest.net thing and noticed a significant improvement. I'll just have to wait until tonight and see how it does. Yesterday I tried to download about 8 videos and after a while they all quit downloading. Just tried to re download all of them single unplugging the phone line and videos downloaded this time and a lot faster.

I know virtually nothing about VOIP and it sounds like it caused a drain somewhere but I am not sure if that is normal or where the bottleneck is.

It could be your overall internet service is slow, it could be a loose connection somewhere is causing interference between the phone line and the internet line, or it could be your router.

I remember when I switched from dial up to cable modem, I was having issues so a tech guy came out and found the installer hadn't tightened one thing up. The tech guy tightened it up and it was so much better.

I think the next step is to call your provider back and tell them what you have done so far in trying to isolate the problem and what the results have been.

So is a wireless router necessary?

Do you have one now?

When I said it could be your router, I meant your modem.

No. I mean other than the modem that I got from Comcast.

Not unless you want to run your computer via a wireless router.

It's either or and not both.

So should I just leave it as is?

In terms of your computing, I would but understand that I am not a tech guy. In terms of your phone, I'd do something different because it seems to cause issues with your internet.