ion wrote:

> Duane,
> Thanks. I don't think it's the connection to the ISP, as I can't
> ping the router itself when I get my error. I'm suspicious that it's
> neighbors using my connection, as it's not password protected.
> Ion

I had a problem with the ISP several months ago. And several months prior to
that I had the same problems. They perodically ran a network maintenance,
test or whatever and it would hose my connection particular connecting the
NG servers. The first time after I didn't pay the bill in time it was
cutoff. I paid the bill and got a new IP assigned from the ISP and the
problems away. I failed to pay bill again in time and got a new IP and the
problems cameback. I called the ISP and at first they refused to give me a
new IP that I demanded. But I went off on them and hammered them and got
the new IP and no more problems.

It's just a little rant. ;-)

You may want to look into disabling DHCP on the router and using static
IP(s) with possibly changing the Subnet Mask on the router away from
255.255.255.0.

http://compnetworking.about.com/od/w...fisecurity.htm

Duane :)