I have a Sweex Wireless LAN USB 2.0 Adapter 11G (54 Mbps) being used with a Belkin 802.11g Wireless DSL/Cable Gateway Router (54 Mbps), with a 700kbs broadband connection from ntl, split between 4 computers (all using the same model NIC). We have set up a WPA pre-shared key for security on all 4. Normal Internet usage works well, however when attempting to play multiplayer online games (such as Call of Duty), the NIC loses the connection to the router regularly (about every 10 minutes for a minute or so at a time), and hence loosing the connection to the Internet and gaming server. This seems to be a problem with the NIC as when this problem occurs on one computer, no other computers connection on the LAN is effected (although this problem does occur on all 4 computers). The NIC and router will eventually regain the connection, and return to normal. This does not occur during general Internet browsing, or downloading, this only occurs when attempting to play online games. It has even been known to occur when playing games just locally on the LAN. Is there some problem with the speed of data flow? Can the NIC not keep up with the speed?? All 4 of the computers are within 20 feet on the router (although in different rooms), and all have a typical signal strength of 60%+. This problem is intensely annoying, as im sure you can imagine. I have tried downloading the latest drivers from the Website, but this had no effect on the problem. I have consulted the manual, but could not find any information relating to my problem. Please help me find a solution to this. Many Thanks Dan Woodhouse.

If it's just the PC in-game it's probably not you at all; sounds like you have a bad route to the game server and periodically it wigs out. First thing to do is run a traceroute from your PC to the game server's IP address, checking for packet loss along the way. If one of the hops along the route has an unusually high ping time and/or packet loss it's probably overloaded. You might email your routing to the owner of that router and see if he can reset/reroute. Some online games when you lose connection the TCP/IP connection doesn't close properly so the PC thinks it's still connected to that port when it's not and can't reconnect to any other ports for 10 minutes or so or it's rebooted. IPCONFIG/RENEW can clear this up sometimes; optimizing your MTU settings for broadband may also help. Check out the Navas website (http://cable-dsl.home.att.net/) for registry tweaks you can use to improve your connection.

But this happens on EVERY game server that we go on, and it even happens when my housemates and i run a LAN game.