Cable modem loses connection

[Margaret]

I have an intermittant problem with my cable modem. Almost everyday usually early evening it loses connection to the internet. It can be when I am listening to internet radio and it suddenly stops or it can happen when I am away from the PC and when I return it is off.
I have found the easiest way to restore connection is to pull out the power plug and then it shows that it is looking for network address and then everything is OK till the next time
Modem is NTL home 100

[Paul K]

How old is the modem? It could be that the modem is starting to fail or it could be a number of things to be honest. Do you have any firewalls or network hardware on your setup?

[Martie07]

access your modem @ http://root:root@192.168.100.1

Tell us your upstream/downstream frequency settings aswell as what connection you have

[Margaret]

The modem must be 5 or 6 years old. We have had it since we were on 128kb
It is an ethernet connection. I have Zone alarm pro and have 2 PC's networked by cable but this set up has been like this for years

Type : Ambit ETH/USB Combo Cable Modem
Cable modem : Ambit Cable Modem
MAC address : ADMIN EDIT - REMOVED
IP address : ADMIN EDIT - REMOVED
Downstream Receive Power Level : 6.75 dBmv
Downstream SNR : 34.02 dB
Upstream Transmit Power Level : 54.00 dBmv

[bigcat]

Downstream Receive Power Level : 6.75 dBmv is a wee bit high for an old ntl100 especially, but with you mentioning that it only goes off early evening it could well be a ubr issue (when everyone gets home from work & starts using the internet)

However, I noticed that your using Zone Alarm

Even the Ex NTL stopped recommending it because it caused so many connection problems. Try disabling/uninstalling ZA about 30 mins before your connection normally goes off & see what happens..

Dont suppose you have Norton AV installed as well by any chance..?

[Margaret]

I do have Norton AV
Funny thing, I rang Virgin today because when we had a new Pace box put in about 3 months ago the engineer said we needed a new cable to the house as what we had was the weakest they did so I was arranging a date.
As a special offer he has upped my connection from 2meg to 4meg for £1 less than I am paying now and it didn't go off tonight.
Yesterday (Sunday) it went off at 6 30pm so I don't think that was a surge in use. I will wait to see if it happens again