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Good afternoon all

I have a problem which I am unable to solve and so decided to turn to this knowledge base for help, advice and assistance.

We have just, after 7 years of faithfull service had to retire our SB4100 Cable Modem. It has served us well from the times with Yorkshire Cable on 2mb, through 4 and 10mb then to Virgin Media and the upgrade to 20mb(although Virgin never told me that the modem couldnt cope with 20 and the best we could expect would be around 15mb which is what we got unless we hit the cap limit)

Anyway, we have been experiencing difficulties of late and have had to make numerous calls to VM technical. During one of these conversations, I was asked what model modem I had and when they found out - hey presto - upgrade sent out.

Now the problem. The house hold is VERY internet orientated. We have the following all fighting for access

Wireless Connections
Thinkpad Laptop
Samsung Netbook
Sony Vaio Laptop - Vista Based
2 x XBox360s
1 x Nintendo Wii

Wired Connections
Mac Duo
Media Server Vista Based
2 Desktop Windows Based PCs
1 Sony PS3
2 Printers

Up until the old modem died, it fed the network via a Linksys WRT54GS which dealt with the Wireless, then one of the wired connections fed into an 8 port Netgear Gigabit Switch GS608 - all living happily as obviously not everything was connecting at once - but not far off sometimes.

Well, today, the new modem arrived, I have no idea what model it is, but it is black, around 4 inches square and possibly 1 inch deep.

I plugged in the new modem, with nothing connected to it, turned it on and phoned VM to have the MAC address switched on. This they did quickly and I connected the Media Server to it directly as this is where the modem lives (Under the Stairs) - Bingo - Alive and kicking, but only at 9mb. OK I thought, it is 17.30 at night, possibly a heavy traffic night.

I disconnected the server from the modem and connected it to the Linksys as before - NOTHING. No activty light flashing on the modem - nothing!

I have tried reseting the Linksys with no joy. I have connected to the Router and logged onto it directly to check its settings are as before - yes - but no joy.

I then thought maybe the MAC address on the Router has to be switched on by VM - I rang and a nice lady suggested I contact the vendor of the router.

HELP - Why is it suddenly unable to talk to the outside world? The wireless network is there, alive and kicking because the wife is currently updating her Ipod from the servers library.

I have tried to check the Router by removing it from the loop, connecting the Netgear automatic configuring 8 port router to the modem - still no joy, but any single computer connected directly to the modem works fine.

I am at a loss.

So, the second piece of advice ...............

If I need to invest in new equipement, what should I buy that can service the above equipement ?

Try not to bankrupt me, but I will spend the amount that is required for a stable connection which is simple to setup - I am not a network engineer !!

Thanks in advance
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