[BluffTHIS!]

You don't give any information about your configuration which might have something to do with it if you are running 98/ME on an older machine. And even if you don't have any adware/spyware hogging resources, that doesn't mean that other programs that might be running in the background are not causing problems, and you should check on this by seeing what programs launch at startup. It is also possible that it is indeed just the isp provider's problem, since the fact that they offer dsl doesn't indicate that they have the best configuration of equipment and lines for providing the best service. You also might check if they offer a higher level of dsl for a higher price, which is usually the case. The "lite" versions of dsl *should* work fine for you but might not, although the highest level of service isn't worth paying for unless you need more upload bandwith, which you don't to play online.