Disconnections When Browsing/Checking Email

Phone Connection Quality

You'll want the phone cord coming out of your computer to follow the shortest route to the phone jack. If your phone cord is plugged into a surge protector, coupler, splitter, another phone, a fax machine, or any other device before it gets to your phone jack, bypass that device and plug the cord directly into the phone jack. Change the phone cord and try a different phone jack if possible.

Software

Check your email program's connection settings to make sure it is not set to disconnect after sending/receiving email.

See article: Outlook Express/Windows Mail Disconnects When Checking Mail

Disable Call Waiting

If you subscribe to call waiting service, incoming phone calls will disconnect your Internet connection if you do not have call waiting disabled.

See article: Disable Call Waiting

Phone Service Problems

Dial-up connections are very sensitive to noise and interference. The cleaner the phone line, the better your connection is going to perform. Check your phone line for interference by picking up a telephone, dial one number, and listen to the receiver. There should be total silence. If you hear any hissing, popping, or other noise, report the issue to your telephone company to have your line checked for trouble.

Also, some phone services can cause problems with dial-up connections. Digital phone lines offered from cable TV bundles may not work very well with dial-up. Services such as call waiting may need to be disabled if your modem is not compatible with the tone that an incoming call puts on the line (in most areas, you can dial *70 before the phone number to disable call waiting).

You can stabilize your connection by using an initialization string on your modem.

See article: Stabilize A Dial-up Connection With an Initialization String

Modem

Some modems work better than others. If the above suggestions did not resolve your disconnect problems, replace your modem. External modems and modem cards are sold at most computer/electronics stores. A different modem may be able to deal with your phone line conditions more efficiently, giving you a faster, more stable connection.

TOAST.net often has multiple access numbers available in any given area. Choose a different number to dial into and see if your performance improves.

See article: Changing Access Numbers