Here in the UK, creaky old dial-up is still the norm at around $21/month, and you usually get bumped off at the 2 hour limit! (Useless for large downloads). Connections can often be very unreliable too. I've had countless ISP's in the last 7 years, and all about the same quality. Also, I usually have to get software, such as Internet Explorer and DirectX, off a magazine CD as opposed to downloading from the 'net. My speed has got better recently though, from 40000bps to 44000bps and even, shock horror - 46666bps! ;-) I heard somewhere that moving the modem up or down a PCI slot can sometimes help. Sounds weird, but it often works! Hope the faster options get much cheaper here soon. (No wonder we call this place "Rip Off Britain") Dave :-)