>Does the connection simply disappear for a few seconds<

Evidently it was the Cable Modem itself and/or the Cable company started storing my IP address (which also killed my Vonage Cisco box). They replaced it with a new (bad) one, and today they finally came out and replaced it with a good Cable Modem. I also had to put in a Router - as evidently the Cable company here no longer can deal with just a hub.

So... and I am and going again...

Mel Cummings