Are my computer woes over?

I've had significant computer and cable modem problems for the past month. Web pages would load fairly fast, but downloads (software, music, email attachments, big files, etc) would take forever. The file download speed was in the 10 to 40 kb range, as opposed to 600 to 800 kb/sec before.

Over the last two years, my cable service would drop out about once per hour, and sometimes more often. The drop would sometimes last only 30 seconds, and sometimes 30 minutes or more. I learned how to "read" the cable modem lights and would wait patiently. It was bothersome but not critical to my sanity (well, sometimes I think I yelled at the f^&%$^g modem...

The last straw was this past week. I couldn't get some emails with big attachments, and I couldn't download needed software. So I called Cox Cable and they tried to fix it over the phone. That didn't work, so a technician came this morning to diagnose it. He took the coax cable out of the modem, hooked it into his meter, and said that the signal strength was strong. He said that it was most likely the cable modem, which I've had for about 8 years. He told me what kind to buy and how to install it and left without charging me for the house call.

I went to Office Depot today and bought a Motorola cable modem, and after lunch I installed it. I had to call cox up to give them my serial number and the service works much better. I downloaded the needed software (17 mb in 19 seconds!), and immediately noticed that my email reception was much faster - big files! Cool.

Linda's birthday is coming up soon, so I told her that I got her an early birthday present - the cable modem! She wasn't thrilled with the news, and insisted that it was more like a late birthday present for me. I can't understand women sometimes - we had to have it, it was on sale, and it has bright flashing lights. What more could she want? Oh well, happy birthday to me, I guess!

Hopefully, my computer woes are over. It's been a tough year for my Dell desktop - the monitor failed last October, the hard drive failed in February, the modem failed in October, and it's only 3 years old.