we're getting internet dropout of upto a couple minutes, then ok again, repeating every few minutes, at a client's office in vermont, connected via comcast cable. the comcast modem does not do NAT, and is connected to their linux server which acts as firewall and does NAT. running a "ping google.com" at the linux server shows ping times of around 40ms, and shows dropouts of several seconds or several minutes every few minutes. comcast of course does not support linux, and wants a windows machine attached to diagnose. i'm waiting to hear whether the dropouts continue or not with the windows machine connected to the modem. meanwhile the windows machine surprisingly shows ping times of around 20ms. we've gone back and forth between the machines over a couple days, and the difference is consistent. but why should they be different? the linux server is ~ a year old, the windows machine ~ 3 years old. tia, greg wm