"Ticked
Off At Being Kicked Off?"
By Thomas Benton
You've paid for unlimited internet dialup service,
but you still get *kicked off* line when you've been inactive
a few minutes?
It may not be your ISP, it's probably the network
provider. During peak times the network provider will automatically
disconnect you if there is inactivity.
If this is aggravating you, try this little *trick*.
You don't need any special *pinging* software
or any other gimmick that may get you in trouble with your ISP.
You probably already have something that'll work fine. If you
have a POP Email account you are likely to already have an email
client for checking your email.
The simple and very *legal* thing to do is to
configure your email client to check your email every 5 - 9 minutes.
This assures constant activity every time you're connected to
the Internet. Just be sure to leave your email client open all
the time you're on the web.
Here's how to do it with Outlook Express. In
the menu bar click Tools - Options. This will open the options
window. On the General tab, you'll see an option that allows you
to set the interval at which Outlook Express checks for new mail.
The default is probably set to 30 minutes. Change this setting
to 9 minutes and see if this keeps you online. It should. If not,
set it to 5 minutes.
Whatever email client you're using should allow
you to set the check-for-new-mail interval. Use the client's help
feature to find out how to set this option.
If for some reason you don't have a POP email
account, search the web for free POP email. (One such provider
is ematic.com.) Outlook Express is free with the Internet Explorer
browser. Set it up, launch it everytime you connect, and stay
online uninterrupted. |
