Hey Pete,

Thanks for the quick response!

I have gone without the router on multiple occaisions and that didn't make a difference. I've also run PingPlotter during this time and again, nothing changes. I don't mind running some tests tomorrow though without the router if you'd like to see yourself. (I've also told/showed this to the cable technicians and they agree the router isn't causing an issue).

I whole-heartedly agree with the time-based thing, there's for sure something that occurs at certain hours causing the problem, but I would think if it's a saturation issue, I wouldn't have problems at, for example, 3 in the morning. Whereas, as you see from the logs, my problem gets "better" midday, even on weekends, when you'd think usage would be higher (than 3am on a weeknight, at least). Of course, you're way more knowledgable about this, so maybe usage patterns are maybe different than I'd think, or could saturation be caused by something other than heavy usage by many users?

One bit of information I left out of my original post is that there's also an issue with Comcast Digital Voice users in my area. I hadn't mentioned it because I thought these problems were unrelated (some technician had mentioned the issue offhandedly - I don't have CDV). Anyways, I found this thread over on DSLReports. The problem he has described with his internet is exactly the same thing I experience. Additionally, he has CDV and has the problem the technician described to me (the other party can't hear you speak, but you can hear them). He lives in Pennsylvania while I live in Tennessee, but the issues are so impeccably similar that I'm fairly certain they have the same cause. This also means that I'm suffering the same problem that the CDV users in my area are experiencing, though with my internet instead of phone service.

Thinking as I type this, I'm starting to think that this is a bit too specific of an issue for someone outside of Comcast could help me with. That said, reading your other stuff, you are a genius compared to the Comcast technicians I've spoken with! So, I understand if you can't help any further, but maybe it's possible to narrow down where the issue is, so that I can point the Comcast technicians in the right direction.

Now, the only thing I know about the CDV problem is that the technician mentioned it was caused by "noise on the line" and that it is affecting my entire neighborhood (but I think, no one that isn't on my "node"). Given all that information, plus what you've pointed out from the PingPlotter logs, I'm wondering if temperature could be causing an issue? I know that temperature *can* affect modem "power levels" and things, but apparently that isn't my problem. So could temperature cause problems in another fashion perhaps? Or is there something else that could occur on a regular schedule like is shown in my logs, such as saturation that you mentioned earlier?

Any information would be much appreciated, and thank you *very* much for the help you've given so far. It's a huge boon to my troubleshooting efforts, as is this fantastic program.