Advice on a Router... or something

Hello All

This is not GW-specific, by the way. My husband and I are both online gamers (I'm GW, he's WoW) and we have a cable internet connection from Cox Communications.

Cox is the only ISP which can service our area with cable or DSL. (Monopolies ftl.) We have debilitating lag, both of us, always at exactly the same time as one another, and usually around the same time at night. Usually it's 8:30-10pm, of course high-net-traffic times. We both get d/c'd from our respective games several times in a row.

Cox of course denies there is anything wrong with our connection, no matter when we call, which may be true on average, but a lag spike means a helluva lot more to us than it does to them.

I am wondering if there is anything we can do on our end to improve our performance. We have a Motorola cable modem and a (wired) dlink router, model EBR 2310, if that helps. We both have brand-new machines (Gateway) with Windows Vista and plenty of memory, but the lag problems were there before the comps were. We scan for viruses and spyware with 2 different programs weekly, so there is no chance of that.

Would getting a "gamer" router improve our situation? If so, which is the best? Is there anything we can do? lol Anyway I appreciate anyone's thoughts.

Thanks

Some information for you that may be helpful regarding cable internet service.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cable-modem10.htm

Also, it looks like you already have a fairly decent router, so I don't think a "gamer router" is going to do anything more for you.

Thanks for that link. It is what we suspected, but of course Cox claims that there is plenty of bandwidth in our area; they have gone so far as to tell us that they are not even near to maxing the users!

This caught my eye from that link:

How in the world does a lowly person like me convince the cable company to add a new channel? lol

I feel your pain. I have Cox also and have had this issue in the past.

There are a few things I would do:

1. Speak with your neighbors, if you are having issues, there is a good chance they are too. Get them to call and file complaints.

2. Tell Cox to send out a Cox senior tech, not a contractor. Contractors throw on amplifiers and say that the issue is fixed.

3. Get the card of the technician when they come out. If it goes out again, call and speak with the tech. It saves you the trouble of dealing with customer service again.

Hope this helps.

EDIT: They have multiple channels available, they can move you at anytime.

Thanks Fallout and Matsumi. I guess next time we call we'll try to get around the customer service peeps, who always start the conversation with, "Is your computer turned on?" lol and try to talk to a tech-type.

"The good news is that this particular performance issue can be resolved by the cable company adding a new channel and splitting the base of users."

That's a total crock to pass the blame.