cisco 871 router issues

[out there]

i recently started connecting my eeepc to a cisco 871, and i keep losing the connection after about 2.5gb downloaded (sometimes even less). the os is ubuntu 7.1 and my main bandwidth comes from torrents. if i disconnect and reconnect, sometimes i get a new ip... sometimes not. i tried changing the mac, no benefit; this causes me to be completely baffled.
really strange: until i started using the eeepc, i had been running a compaq presario with xp pro, for several months, and had no issues.
this setup is at a hotel where my roommate and i work; he has apparently called the isp about the intermittent connection problem (they provided all/most hardware). if i understand correctly, they recommended just power-cycling.

any guesses? want more information?

 

[SwiftWind]

Who is your ISP? are you aware of any throttling?

 

[out there]

no one you would know; it's a local isp and i have had an account with them for almost 8 years with no issues. it is an issue with the router. apparently, one of the day people contacted the isp and they're sending out a new router to be installed next week.
no matter if i use linux or windows, torrent or just connect, the issuance of an ip is almost random. it doesn't seem to be too hot, so... i'm at a loss. i hope the replacement functions, the entire system (outside of the front-desk machines) is dependent on this point. can you say, "lots of unhappy customers"?

 

[SwiftWind]

There are so many variables when it comes to Cisco. It depends on who configured it and how it was configured, it depends on what IOS version it is running, and so on. How did you get this router? do you do any configuration on it? do you have admin access?