just checked my nat type and I am Nat 1. I can even surf the web on the PS3 but when I go to play Madden... game over...

Edit: arrrgh.. Since SundayI can hardly connect to the PSn most days. I dont get more than 10 seconds into a game before it disconnects. Now, it disconnects before the coin toss. Frustrating!!!!1

^^^^^thanks for clarifying that. Clearly I was confused.

Oh and Bakakage, nah I dont have a router, just a modem that I unplug the ethernet cord from

Depending on your router features it could be UPnP feature of the router. I know I had to turn that off on my router to keep the PS3 from disconnecting regularly. I guess this is a common problem for people who use Linksys routers. Dunno about your brand.

I did 3 things to fix the same problem you had

First I set the PS3 to have a static IP address

Second I turned on the proper port forwardings (in the router setup) for the PS3

Third I disabled UPnP on the router.

schesak

Just read the manual on my modem. It said

Because this modem is a plug and play modem, it requires no special drivers to be installed to run. It operates off of the Network Interface Card installed in the PC.manual

Also, I read that

This modem is not assigned an IP address.manual

Okay so here's the deal. I've participated in online gaming for about a year now. Things have been great up until this summer when I got Madden 2010.

The problem is that I keep getting disconnected from the internet but only with the PS3, the computer works fine so it isn't an ISP related issue. I have an ethernet cord for the PS3 and one for the computer so I have to unplug one to plug in the other.

Sometimes I can go all day without a hitch and other days (like today) every game is just a countdown to a d/c. usually it takes place within the first 3-4 mintues of starting a game. Sometimes I get disconnected from the PSN in the lobbies and then I just have to turn off the PS3 coz I know I won't make it thru a game.

What irritates me is that, to my knowledge, everything is exactly the same on my PS3 as last year. Here are my set-up details:
Wired connection

Westell Wirespeed DSL Modem
Media Sharing: Off (I googled and that seems to be the standard answer for internet problems so just letting yall know in advance)When I did a connectiong test on my PS3, I connected and my internet speed is 1MB x 512 (I know that isn't fast). Sometimes when I try the internet connection it times out on obtaining an IP Address or Connecting to PSN