Lincoln, your problems with BC2 was probably punk buster. If I recall correctly, your symptoms all pointed to that.
You're probably right. Although anytime I checked at PB's website and ran an update/check, it showed I had the most recent version for BC2 and all my games were up to date. I just assumed it was an issue w/ my router. What bugged me was that none of my other games had the same issue and I hadn't changed anything, so that's why it bothered me that after following their instructions for opening the ports and everything else they suggested that it still didn't work and I could only play the single player campaign. Long, old, worn-out story.