[Archduke Tips]

There is only ultimately one line, so the network has to prioritize traffic. I think you might have an issue where one network card is getting priority over another.

Your cable modem might prioritize by MAC address. Therefore, when you both try to use the network, you end up getting all of the bandwidth. Of course, you don't use all the bandwidth available, so he will get some every now and then.

I am not sure how your cable modem makes routing decisions, so I can't help you further in that regard. If it can get a firmware update, then you might want to try that.

If you want to see if the problem is associated with a certain network card, you could try to exchange the cards. They have a MAC address assosciated with them that is unique.

I really think Ethereal could help here. You can monitor all network traffic and see if it gives you priority. Just look for packets coming from and going to your IP address and the other IP address. You can put it on the other computer too and look at the traffic when only it is on the network.