Webpages stop loading at random times?

I've had this annoying issue of webpages stop loading during random times. It seems to happen when I have more than 2 files being downloaded concurrently (via http, haven't touched torrents in a long while other than perhaps the rare Linux distro download) or when there is a lot of content on the webpage such as multiple large images. While browsers seem unable to browse, I do seem to be able to connect to online game servers or remain connected to IM. I don't recall this happening before until maybe a few months ago. This seems to occur on some of my PCs but not others. This has occurred on XP w/ SP3 and Vista 64 w/ SP2. I tend to reformat/reinstall my PCs a couple times a year (and just recently) and I do have AV and firewalls on them (Avira Antivir and Comodo Firewall w/ Windows Firewall disabled). To resume browsing, I restart my wireless router (as closing and reopening browsers does nothing), immediately after which downloading of multiple files and loading high content webpages will work fine for a while.

Has anyone else encountered such an issue or might know the cause and possible solution?

 

How old is the router, and what make and model is it? It really sounds like the router is on its deathbed, and it should probably be replaced.

 

Well, the entire cable signal kicked the bucket earlier today. Techs will be out to look at it later. :-\

As for the router, it is about 3 years old and same goes for the cable modem.

 

Ahh, could also be a really bad cable connection that's picking up a lot of interference. It is remarkable how sensitive the network connection can be to interference and noise that the television signal simply ignores - just recently we started having problems with our cable broadband dropping to dial-up speeds at random intervals. After hashing back and forth with customer service, and then real techs, we determined that the noise/interference was happening somewhere between the cable modem and the first of the ISP's servers our signal hit. About the only thing I could get to in that region was the coaxial cable itself, and the various threaded connections. I found two connections that were loose - one was very loose, the other not so much - and wouldn't you know it, when I tightened everything up, my signal speeds went right back up to spec. In all that time, we never had a lick of trouble from the cable TV signal.

 

Our cable signal has been crap for the longest time and has been just getting worse. I got sick of repeatedly telling the cable company to fix it, to which they never did, and have been using a signal booster as a temporary solution. Now, the signal is completely dead so even the booster is of no use. And of course a tech showed up only to tell me a different tech will have to fix it later.