Slow Interent Connection-Sudden Onset

Hi:

About two weeks ago, I noticed that my dialup conection via MSN had suddenly
slowed to a point where some programs were no longer functioning properly.

At times, the speed picks up, seemingly to its previous levels At times,
some access numbers to MSN seem to yield a faster connection than do others.

I generally dial these via "MyConnection" setups using my MSN account. .
These make use of TCP/IP protocol. Software compression is enabled. But a
similar slowdown occurs when I use the MSN 8.5 sotware instead of these
manually created connections.

I havent noticed any slowdown in PC. functions other than that of the
internet connection

I ran several Download Bandwidth tests via PcPitstop at:
http://www.pcpitstop.com/internet/Bandwidth.asp
and my download speed ranges between 19-30 Kbs on my 56K modem

Other than than the slow download banwidth, the other test paramaters were
ok at that site, including the various ping tests.

How can I ascertain what is causing these slowdowns?

MSN TechSupport claims
it is not due to a problem with their servers. Their recommendations re
optimizing my modem by adding an init. line didnt help much.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks in Advance:

-Eli

================

Windows ME
IE 6.0 SP1
127 Meg RAM