I have a whole-house surge suppressor built into my circuit box, and I also
have all electronic equipment attached to separate surge suppressor. My CPU
and monitor are connected to an APC back-up UBS.

I recently had technicians from the cable company (SuddenLink, formerly Cox)
at the house twice. He solved one problem but not the other. I was not
getting some channels on the TV that I have in the computer room, and the
reception on the channels I did receive was terrible. He solved that
problem. However, he was not able to do anything about the other one. That
is, I frequently (several times a day) lose connection to cable and to the
Internet. This happens regularly immediately after I send a fairly large
e-mail (using Eudora), but it also happens at other times without any
warning and without any real pattern -- I could be surfing the Internet,
reading newsgroups, sending mail, etc., and access is suddenly gone. When I
check the little connectivity icon in the task bar, it will then show "Local
access" only instead of "Local and Internet access." I can usually (but not
always) regain connection if I turn off the surge suppressor that is
connected to everything *except* the CPU and monitor. As I said, they are
on a separate UBS. The CPU, monitor, and Zoom modem are all new. Only the
router (LinkSys Wireless-G) is older. This problem has been occurring with
increasing frequency for more than a year, so it started while I had my
older computer but has continued with the new equipment.

The cable company technician changed the splitters "just in case," with no
noticeable effect on the system. He suspects that the router is at fault.
However, he tested the router and it responded correctly. Moreover, the
cable company was able to "ping" it from the home office. Does anyone have
any ideas? I can replace the router, of course, but that will involve more
expense than just the router because I had a networking rep come out to set
up some of the equipment because I wanted to make sure that my laptop was
not vulnerable to "drive-by hackers." They supposedly set a type of
security that is better than what I had done through Control Panel. So, I
really hate to do that unless I can be fairly certain that the router is at
fault. Incidentally, I have a lot of experience with several types of
software, but I have absolutely no knowledge of hardware and would not even
be comfortable with software that involved editing the Registry.

One thing the SuddenLink technician said surprised and confused me: He said
that they "preferred" that homeowners not use *any type* of surge
suppressor. He did not request that I disconnect mine, but I don't
understand that statement. Does anyone know why the cable company would
take that position. He also said, "They don't do any good anyway."
Actually, I had a small surge suppressor that proved its worth a few years
ago. My microwave would not work after a major thunderstorm, and I thought
it was ruined. It turned out that the surge suppressor had been destroyed,
but it had done its job -- the microwave worked perfectly after I discarded
that surge suppressor.

MaryL