Win98 Dial Up Tweaks?

My win98(se) machine has connected to RCN's dial up service for years
with no problem. During this
time, my configuration has not changed.

In the past few months, my connection has gotten slower and slower and
finally got so slow that most
web and email connections are timed out or the servers can't be found.

Because I can connect to a free ISP (metconnect) with no problem and
(compared to RCN) blazing
speed, I think that RCN upgraded their software to a non-friendly to
win98 version.

I called RCN to find out if any tweaks can remedy the situation, but, of
course, they refused to tell me
once they found out I was using an unsupported o/s. Although the rep I
spoke to agreed that recent
updates probably were causing the slow down.

It may be that win98 just can't handle whatever software RCN is using,
but if anyone knows of some
tweaks that might help, please advise.

Thanks.

Ellen