I moved to a new place that is hooked up with Comcast cable internet.
However the transfer speeds rival that of dialup, and frequently connections
time out. I have tried using both a Netgear and Linksys router and neither
yielded much gain. But one thing I noticed is that the activity light on
either router is *constantly* on, as is the "receive" light on the cable
modem. The slowness seems due to the line being deluged with activity,
although the activity does not seem to stem from the computers connected to
the router. I don't know much about cable services, but is it possible that
the router is being forced to deal with the TV signals? I would have figured
that the cable modem should filter that out. Anyway, when I go into the
router's web config, that too is also slow. So basically I think the router
is receiving and handling way more traffic than it should be and I don't
know why, or how it might be possible to stop it. Is there some kind of
filter or other equipment that I need?

Ham Pastrami wrote:
I would first attempt to see if the problem persists if you're connected
to the modem directly from your computer rather than through the router.
Make sure that your computer is running a software firewall of course,
before trying this.

If the problem doesn't exist if your router is not connected, then the
router is the problem. Trying going to the router manufacturer's website
and see if an updated firmware exists for that router.

Yousuf Khan