Trouble staying connected

Im having trouble keeping a good connection with my laptop, and want some help troubleshooting the issue.

I have a laptop the connects to other networks without issue.
I have a Trendnet wireless router that is a little over a year old, and a cable modem from my cable company.

The connection between the router and computer seem fine. The signal usually says excellent and the speed usually says 54 Mbps, but I have problems connecting to it, and usually the internet is really slow with lots of timing out. Killing the power to both the modem and router helps for anywhere between a couple hours to a couple days.

because of the layout of my house, the router and modem are impossible to get to without a stepladder, so to restart them I usually hit the breaker.

Since its the internet thats slow, but Im still getting connected to the router, is it likely the modem, OR is the router going bad and letting me connect, but not letting me get access to the modem?

Im open for ideas to try before I go out and buy a new router or call my cable co for a new modem.

Thanks!

 

Can you log in to the web interface of the wireless router? if so are there any settings in there that might be misconfigured?

Otherwise you could look at flashing the firmware on the router. There will be information on the manufacturers website on how to do this.