ISP says my modem may be causing speed issues....

[Crow550]

Like a week or two ago my net connection speed has been slowing down allot. It never use to do this....

Could this be my router or the modem?

Which cable modem should I get?

I get 6MB download, 1MB upload.

 

[Texun]

You say you get 6 down and 1 up but what speed tier are you subscribing to and who is your provider? Have you tried going direct from the PC to the modem? I have the WRT54G with DD-WRT and it's been fine. I doubt that your speed problem is in the router and I wouldn't mention it to the tech gurus at the cable company. As soon as you mention anything that isn't in their script they will likely throw in the towel and say the problem is on your end.

The SB4200 is a workhorse but it's getting old and I don't think it supports anything above DOCSIS 1.0. However, even with DOCSIS 1 it is still capable of much more than you are stating.

Enter http://192.168.100.1/signal.html in the URL and see what your transmit and receive power levels are. The preferred downstream would be anything from 40dBmv to the low 50's and a upstream should be -5 to +5 with the S:N in the mid to upper 30's.

Have you pinged any sites to check for latency in the network?

It is unlikely that your router is the problem but remove it from the equation and go straight to the modem just so you can rule it out. Be sure to power cycle the modem when you do this so it can bond your IP with the MAC address of your NIC.

Good luck!