Thanks for your reply; I will obviously have to do some testing. The problem is quite irregular, so if the problem doesn't appear for an hour, that is no proof that it went away. It has been improving recently, though. I was considering getting another modem, but I have no idea whether it would work.

I have a portable myself, and I could do some testing on different lines, though. That might pinpoint the culprit more precisely: for instance, whether it is the line or the modem.

Hilmar.

>Based on experiences I had with modems many years ago before the Internet was popular, I learned this. Since I have used modems they have changed a lot, but I think these things are still true.
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>Occasionally software or the comunication itself messes up and clicking on refresh does the trick. If clicking refresh doesn't help and reconnecting does then the problem is probably in the modem (hardware).
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>Go ahead and also try leaving the connection up, but closing your browser software and reopening it. This also tests the software side.
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>If simply hanging up and dialing in again is what is needed then it's their hardware. We know this because none of your hardware was reset (powered off and on).
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>If it requires you to reboot so that your internal modem is turned off and on then it may be your modem.
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>If it is a modem, then the question is: What's trashing the modems?
>It could be that one sides modem is bad and it's trashing the other, but I found that the quality of the line is usually the culprit. I actually found that rain and actual water that seeped into the lines was a big problem. The water in the line caused static.
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>Hook up a telephone to your modem line. Although your internet connection requires better than what the phone companies in the US call "voice quality", I have found that when the line was the problem, you could usually hook up a phone and faintly hear the static the water caused as well. If I could hear the staic, I got the the phone company to replace the line coming into our building at their expense.
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>Do you know someone with a laptop or an external modem you could borrow? Even if the line is messed up, it always seemed like some modems did better than others. You could see if that helped before you speant any money. You might also ask your ISP what brand modem they use.
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>If you do know someone with a laptop you could try dialing in from various places and see if the connection was better at some places and use that as evidence to get your lines replaced.
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>Hope it helps