About Mac Address

My landlord wont fix the internet because she is too lazy, so in effort to hurry the process, i changed the Mac Address on the router by 1 digit for just a little while. And before you say, HEY THATS NOT RIGHT, let me quickly fill you in.

The internet blips incoming data every 10 mins or so, for only about 30-60 seconds, sometimes alot longer, its incredibly anoying, but she doesnt care because she will just wait till it comes back on.

So anyway i forgot about it for a day accidently and when i came back, it was working again with that mac address. I havent asked her if she has called, but my question is, did she possibly call and the ISP just re-registered the new mac address, or what could have happened? In any case the problem is not fixed, I am conviced that we are on a bad port with the ISP but ive gone through this and its incredibly painfull to make them check the port we are on, anybody have any tips to convince them its there side?

I am in the IT field, but of course they want me to check to see if the power switch is on before they will do anything... retards.

Also, does anybody know any good logging programs for internet activity, I want to log when the internet blips to see a pattern.