Youtube breaks my internet connection

This is a really annoying problem I'm having with my connection. Every so often, it'll randomly "freeze", that is, the NIC seems to stop receiving packets. This results in things like

• If I'm trying to browse to a website, it'll stop at "Waiting for website.com...". It does this or the equivalent in all 4 of the browsers I have: IE, Firefox, Opera & Chrome.
• If I'm playing an online game, I seem to "lag out". That is, everything in the game freezes. One of the odd things I've noticed here is that sometimes the packets come through after a 20-30 second gap.
• If I'm watching a youtube video ( specifically mentioned later ) the loading will just break off whenever the issue begins.

Now, for some reason, although the issue has been triggered by regular browsing, or gaming with no browser open, loading a youtube video seems to have a very high chance of triggering this problem. About 7 out of 10 videos will just break off during the loading and if I try to open any sites in new tabs it'll get stuck at "Waiting for website.com...".

The only fix I've found so far is that disconnecting and reconnecting to the wireless network fixes the problem. Sometimes I have to do this multiple times so I'm wondering whether it is, in fact, a proper fix or that the issue is just going away by itself during the time it takes to reconnect.

An even stranger thing is, while my computer cannot open any web pages, ping/nslookup still works. IM apps still work.

System info:

The computer: Windows 7 64-bit connecting via a Linksys USB adapter ( WUSB54GC ) The router: Linksys WRT54G2 v1.0

I have a CCNA cert and pretty decent knowledge of home networking but I have not been able to figure out any reason for this issue. Disabling IPv6, assigning a static IP, turning firewalls on/off, turning QoS on/off have had no effect. It cannot be wireless interference because inSSIDer still shows great reception and, after all, wireless issues would affect ALL networking and would not leave ping/nslookup untouched. I've tried switching to a different wireless adapter ( AWUS036H ) and still had the same problem. A different router also appears to have the same problem.

I would think at this point that it's the ISP, except that during the issue I cannot even open the ROUTER CONFIG PAGE at 192.168.1.1. So I have come to the conclusion that this must be a local issue on this computer. Can anyone suggest any avenues of investigation?

I can't believe I figured out the problem after so many months and it was staring at me in the face all along.

It was my wireless headphones. The Plantronics 995h apparently operates on the damn 2.4Ghz spectrum and so it must have been interefering with my wireless card. THAT'S why it was random and occuring even though my Wifi analyzer showed no other NETWORKS within 5 channels of me.

I unplugged the wireless headset and have had 2 problem free days.

Thank you, everyone who tried to help! :)

Check for devices nearby that can interfere with the signal, and see if removing them from the area helps.