[chrisinthesun20]

I'm having a very strange (and annoying) cable internet "issue" - its quite involved so I apologise in advance for the length of this post!:

I have a NetGear FA311 network card, and I'm using Chello Cable Internet (I live in the Netherlands).

Everything is configured and set up correctly, there are no obvious conflicts etc etc BUT:

Sometimes, NOT all time, when I type in the address of a website and hit return it spends ages saying "Connecting to site blah blah...." before the site itself starts to load - once I've connected to the site its fine but that initial connection can takes ages, and sometimes the browser just errors, saying it cannot fine the site.

Also, when I am having this problem, the Repair Connection option (or IPCONFIG / RENEW) fails. It can do this sometimes right from bootup - or sometimes the connection will be fine for an hour or so, and then suddenly it starts. it is important to note that even when my browser cannot find sites - other services which do not go via the DNS (such as MSN messenger) work just fine - which again makes me think it might be an ISP issue.
I've tried manually changing between the two DNS server addys I've been given, but that does not help. I've tried manually and automatically setting IP and DNS settings - no difference. I've tried resetting the cable modem but the generally does not seem to help either.....

At first I thought it might be my network card, but various driver revisions seem to have ruled that out. I'm inclined to think it is an issue with my ISP (I've not tried to call them as Dutch Customer Service is EVEN WORSE than English customer service!)

The only thing I've not tried is swapping out my network card - i did try to do it yesterday, but because my ISP has not given my details on how to swap the MAC address when I put in a new NIC I can't do it, so I've as yet been unable to try a different network card. The thing is, once I've connection to a site, even if it takes ages, I get my full d/l speed of about 130kb/s, so it does not seem to be bottlenecking at the network card itself - and also it cannot be the cable.....

System specs as follows:

AMD 1.1Ghz
Kinetiz 7T m/b (running latest VIA 4in1)
1GB 133mhz RAM
40GB HDD (I forget the make - been through so many!)
Creative Geforce II GTS 32mb
Soundblaster Live! Value

I really don't know what the most likely cause of this problem is - any help would really be most appreciated - as I hate having to pay 47 euro a month for a distinctly flaky net connection!

Thanks!