Really werid problem

[Bushwicktrini]

I have a westell wirespeed modem from verizon that I'm using on a sprint/earthlink 1.5/256 dsl line and for the last couple of weeks I lose connection or have a real bad drop in speed like down to 93/20.

I have this setup going atm linksys router/wirespeed modem. I tried connecting directly to the modem and Winxp said that I have a limted/no connection on my nic and when I try to repair it xp says that it can't get a ip address.

Now I'm stuck and not sure what to do. When I'm connected to the router the nic is good but I have a problem connecting to the modem when I conneted to the modem xp says the nic connection is bad but I can connect to the modem. Both connection still suffer from the speed issue.