Windows 7: Incompatibility of cable modem and wireless router? intermittent drops

I have a small home network (3-4 wired connections, 2 wireless, one of the wireless connections is a "Windows 7 Home premium" HP laptop).
My router of 6+ years is a Netgear WPN824 (802.11g/b, MIMO, max 108 mbps in theory).
I just switched from DSL to cable for internet (Comcast, modem is DPC3000). The cable internet service has been running for 1 day.

Q: Will an older router have problems with the switch to 1 mbps DSL to 12 mbps cable internet?

I'm noticing frequent router dropouts that seem to be connected to my Windows 7 laptop using its wireless connection. Then again, I'm not sure if it's just my router flaking out. When it drops out, *all* the wireless and wired connections lose their LAN connections. I can't ping any machines, etc. If I switch back to using my DSL, I don't see this problem.

If I'm using a "DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem" (DPC3000), do I need to upgrade my router (802.11n)?
If so, will any 802.11N router be reasonable, or do I need to look for certain specs?

If I *do* upgrade my router, do I also need to buy wireless NIC's of the same vendor/type in order to achieve decent wireless speed, or will my built-in wireless in my HP Windows 7 laptop suffice?

Thanks,
Fran Maurais
fmaurais@comcast.net

Perhaps upgrading the routers firmware will help fix this problem.
You will need to find out which version of this router you have in order to obtain the correct firmware version.
WPN824 Model

thanks...yes, I considered a firmware upgrade to my router. My router's webpage offers to check for firmware upgrades, but recently, shows no available upgrades or says it can't find any.

I just went to Netgear's site, and looking harder, did find a firmware upgrade, and have installed it. We'll see if it helps. Thanks.

fmaurais, I'd do a hard reset on your router back to the factory settings then reconfigure your wireless network. Depending on how your DSL modem was previously setup, there could be some settings in your router that were set for DSL configuration, not cable. The DOCSIS standard doesn't affect your router.

Yes, I did the hard reset initially. That by itself didn't resolve it, but thanks. I did perform the firmware upgrade, and it looks promising (after another 1 1/2 days). Thanks.