I forgot something..
Check your cables/phone lines for kinks or damage. a simple kink or crushed
point can ruin your connection. Also clean your phone jacks but do not use
water. :-)
Sometimes just pulling out the phone line and plugging it back in to the
jack can help improve the connection.
I personally went to the trouble of getting special phone cords just for
modems. They were about $12 for 15 feet of cable. They really helped my
connection. They are much thicker than normal phone cords. There are also
some cords that have special coating to sheild them from electrical
discharge. Oh, magnets can screw up connections too. Anything with
electrical or magnetic (or both) fields can disrupt internet connections.
Radios, speakers, and fans are common culprits. Even phones have magnetism.
That is why you should never ever ever set your phone down on a floppy disk
unless you want the disk erased.
Ok, I'll shut up for real now.
luv,
-Su