Wireless Switch/Routers interfering with cable modems?

[DamnMachine]

Has anyone ever heard of the signal from a wireless router causing problems with a cable modem?

I have (along with many others) been experiencing intermittent outages of my cable modem (Ready light dropping, sometimes every 15 minutes). I've swapped various bits, including the cable modem, with no success. But when NTL engineers came to visit, I had to take my wireless router out of the configuration, and the problem happened much less frequently.

So just recently, I moved the wireless router and the cable modem as far apart as I could (about 1 metre), and the problem has happened MUCH less frequently.

It may also be relevant that both router and modem used to sit in a 3 foot metal shelving unit. I'm wondering whether the combination of the wireless signal and the rectangular metal shelving could have produced some kind of signal which caused the cable modem to keep losing the NTL signal.

Anyone with similar experiences?
Is this even technically possible, or am I smoking waccy baccy?

Thanks in advance

\Damn