why does my wireless go out?

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I have a router that connects to one computer with an ethernet cable, connects to another computer (mine) wireless, and connects to a voip box with a cable. I have a cable connection (not DSL).

Everything will be fine for the longest time when suddenly I'll have a day or two where frequently all the connections will be lost and I have to unplug the router and then plug it back in to get it to work again. Occasionally I'll just lose the computer connections but the voip will keep working.

Why would this happen? While I'd like to solve the problem, I am more curious as to what causes it. Particularly when it seems so random.

wireless laptop? If you're running off of batteries, a low battery could cause trouble with the wireless connection. The wireless card is one of the most power hungry parts of your computer (it's a small radio station).

Other than that I'd need more details...

Though if you are losing connectivity with the hard wired computer it's most likely to be the cable company. Service can and does go in and out. Sometimes when it does you may need to reset (or unplug) the router so it'll reregister with the network.

The voip comes in on the same line, but if the WWW access disappears further up the hierarchy, you could still have functioning voip without cable or internet.

What kind of router are you using? What kind of wireless lan card are you using? I had similar problems and might be able to assist.

Thanks for your replies; quietangel I'm using a belkin54g router and I believe my LAN card is an intel 2100 3A mini pci adapter.

Hermit, come to think of it your explanation makes a lot of sense. B/c usually the voip will eventually go out after the computer connections do, it just lasts a bit longer. I don't usually run on battery b/c the screen is darker that way.

a coworker of mine has the same problem. Have you made sure your software is up to date for the Belkin? What os are you using? Sp2? What firewall are you using? Software and hardware.
Have you rebooted?

Belkin routers are absolute garbage. A friend of mine has a Belkin wireless router. It used to do the same thing, only about every 20 minutes. Upgrading the firmware helped, it usually goes for several days without incident now.

What kind of router would you recommend?

i prefer linksys

Yep, I've been very happy with Linksys routers as well.

Voip needs very little network usage and the software in the hardware is more stable. and routers yes that could be it but check the cable modem first than the router. One other thing make sure both the cable modem and router has good airflow they are on alot and get hot that can mess them up.