Constant issues with internet access

[AGray]

Hi all, im not too familiar with cable modems and things, so my explanations for the problems i am having might seem confusing (To me at least!).

But i have been on NTL/Virgin for the past 2 years or so, first when it was NTL, i didnt have too many problems back then i remember, but then issues started to arise when Virgin took over (May have just been coincidental).

Usually it wouldnt be too serious, i would only have downtime in the form of constant disconnects, lag etc. I play online games most of the time, so it was obviously very noticable when i would be getting high unstable pings, or constant disconnects.

I went with the flow though, i dont like complaining no matter how much i huff and puff, because i know it will eventually get sorted within a few hours. Problem was that this was starting to become constant, almost every day i would end up losing connection at specific times of the day, both in the day and night.

Last month the problem got initially "serious" to a point where an engineer had to come out. First time i have ever had to call out an engineer, but it seems the way the house is, there is a line downstairs which is seperate from the line upstairs. The line which i am on for the internet/computer seems to go through the neighbours house, into their box.

Well it seems that a component got damaged, which meant that i couldnt access the internet for 3-4 days until the engineer came out and fixed it. He attached a small item onto my cable (Forward Path Attenuator, 10dB), and everything was once again working.

So the big problem was rectified, but the other issues of getting disconnects throughout the day continued, this is when i started to feel annoyed, because an engineer did come out, fixed the big problem, but the more annoying small problem continued.

I initially started making a log of all the times the internet would go down, however, i lost the file (Damn!) so had to start again, it would be the same stuff written down (Intermittent disconnects, lagspikes etc).

I am pretty confused on what to do, i dont know if its my line thats an issue, my modem, or even the area i live in. Because it happens at anytime (Today it happened at midnight, and then it happened again at 9am) its a bit iffy.

I'll try to give some information on my cable now, but since i dont know if its the required information, feel free to ask what i should be supplying as extra ;.

Former NTL Customer / Virgin Media now.
NTL Cable Modem - NTL 250 (The standard modem i think)
LinkSys Router - BEFSR41 Wired Router (Only has one connection - The Cable Modem)
On 10mb internet
Area: Widnes, Cheshire, North West, WA8 area
Downstream Receive Power Level : 7.1 dBmV // Downstream SNR : 39.0 dB
Upstream transmit Power Level : 45.5 dBmV

I will probably need to give a bit more information, but thats what i can think of at the moment.

Thanks!