Your bug report test being true is ideal. I then don't think your modem is the issue. I've heard that USB modems generally don't require a port to be forwarded. I have a D-Link but mine is not USB.

Dare I ask, it's not so important, but which model G4 do you have? I'm just curious about the USB card on your comp. Only the last G4's had the faster USB cards. Mine is the 12 Mbps, compared to the G5's usb ports of about 400. And of course Firewire is about 400 Mbps or 800 for Firewire 2.

I have a suspicion you've just been unlucky with the sources of the files you've dwnlded. Yes the word is the music industry is loading T3's up with corrupt music files to try to thwart people's enthusiasm to dwnld music via p2p. Search the forum for the word corrupt or T3.

If you'd like to run some tests on your modem set up go here: http://www.broadbandreports.com/tools

Here's some hints on optimising LW: A well set-up LW can start to automatically continue its dwnlding after it's settled down perhaps 2 out of 3 times you open LW. Optimising LW & Maximising Uplds & Dwnlds A (1st post only) & also Part B which is even better & last & least are search & dwnld hints.