i always had nothing but problems out of my usb modem, including things like you had above, i finally managed to get my isp to send me an ethernet based modem and i haven't had a problem since

Thanks for all the advise everyone.
There are no phone lines inside my house, my pc plugs straight into the main box.

I think the problem may be with BT, as they have asked me to retest, saying the problem is resolved. however it is not, although not so bad. I am appalled at the way it has been handled. I have been held on hold for a total of 47 hours, been addressed as Mrs in an email from BT, and am still expected to pay for the last three months crap service.

modems (regardless of type, pci,int,usb) are nightmare to a lot of people.

LOL...

Thank God for quick & cheap phone support over here :P I've had DSL for over a year now and had two downtime days. Usually when I phone them, they have to check if they actually do have a DSL problem and then confirm what I already knew :D