The physical design of this modem would not be something to even slightly consider, for it's an actual internal modem, right? Plus, on some of my internet surfing ventures, this modem gets often disconnected I wonder what the manufacturers were doing when they built this crap! No, I think it's not the fault of your service provider, for a different modem wouldn't give you disconnections as often as this piece of technocrap would! On top of frequent disconnections, it even provides slower connections compared to what your service provider gives. Yes, 'cause I now have a different modem on the computer that formerly had this one in it, and it gives me faster connections, not to mention fewer disconnections!