Solution: This is one of those problems that can have a number of causes. These are some of the most common ones.

• Call waiting;  This is one of the most common causes of unexplained disconnects from the internet. The "beep" that comes over the line when another call is coming in can confuse a modem, and cause it to simply hang up, thus disconnecting your computer from the internet. GTE has a service called "Cancel Call Waiting", which can be extremely useful to remedy this situation. First, you need to call GTE and subscribe to Cancel Call Waiting. Then, after GTE has hooked it up, you will insert a *70, in front of the dial up number 865-6636. What happens is call waiting will be turned completely off for the duration of your time online. When you hang up the computer from the internet, call waiting is turned back on for the next call that you make.
• Inactivity Disconnect; Make sure that your computer is not set to disconnect after a certain amount of time of inactivity. If this is the case, please call our tech support line at 865-4736 and we will help you check these settings.
• Phoneline Splitter; If you have any line splitters in the phone jack (i.e., a device that allows two phone cords to be plugged into the same phone jack), try removing the splitter and plugging the computer's phone cord directly into the jack.
• MISC. Devices; Try removing any devices such as caller ID boxes from the phone jack that your computer is plugged into.
• Faulty Phone Cord; Try a different phone cord. Believe it or not, we've seen computers that simply refused to connect to the internet until we changed the phone cord.
• Line Static; If there is any static whatsoever on the line, the modem will not function correctly. To dissipate static, try unplugging *all* phone cords from every phone jack in your house; wait for 20 to 30 minutes, and then plug them back in and see if this makes a difference.
• Free Line Check; If all else fails, GTE can do a line check on your phone lines for free, 24 hours a day. Just call the 800 number in the front of your GTE phone book, and ask them to do a line test.
• Email Software is set to Disconnect After Sending or Retrieving Mail; Certain email software will disconnect your computer from the internet after it has finished downloading your mail or sending your mail. Please keep in mind that all versions of Netscape do not suffer from this problem. In order to turn this function off, please follow these steps:

1. We first need to determine which email program you are using. In order to do this, go to the "Start" menu, point to "Settings", and click "Control Panel".
2. A new window will pop up. Double-click on the icon labeled "Internet" or "Internet Options". You will only one or the other, but not both. The icon will appear similar to this [], this [], or this [].
3. On the new window that pops up, click on the tab across the top of the screen labeled "Programs".
4. You will see several options; look at what the text reads in the box next to the mail or email category.
5. If the box reads "Internet Mail", click here.
6. If the box reads "Outlook Express", click here.
7. If the box reads "Microsoft Outlook", click here.