OT: internet service provider problem

Why don't you try netzero.net. I have had it for years and it gives me 10 hours free a month. If you need more time they have that too, and are not that expensive. Do a search and see if it is available in your area.
Guido.

I work for an ISP at least for a little while yet. They are closing my call center.

I agree with Howard H that spyware and virii will slow you down like crazy as they use all the bandwidth to send their poison. Also expains the compaint of using it too much.

What version of Windows are you using? Sometimes the computer needs a bit of work to reset the networking componants.

It is possible you've got a piece of malware installed as a plug-in to Internet Explorer that is redirecting your web requests. That's the only thing I can think of that would allow Netscape to get there, but not IE.

Have you tried booting up in "safe mode with networking" (hit F8 as your PC very first boots up) and then try to get to the website??

I'd be curious if that helps. If so, you may have something in your startup list that is causing trouble.

Several pieces of malware watch for you trying to go to a website and then redirect you somewhere else - but they can be very buggy or poorly written and often just wind up make Internet service crummy.

Not sure what to tell you about the ISP kicking you off - you don't have any kids in the house downloading huge amounts of music or pictures, do you?

Also, certain viruses can cause HUGE amounts of traffic.

If your ISP really knows what they are talking about, they might be able to tell you exactly what type of traffic they think you are generating and give a clue as where the problem is...

Howard

There are plenty of ISPs that will provide unlimited dialup for ten bucks a month, just go with a local provider so you're using their lines. (Your ISP may have been losing money on you, since they probably have to pay another ISP when you dial in.)

The problem you were having getting to ytmag is probably bad DNS lookup from your ISP, NOT your browser. Netscape/Firefox won't get to any site that IE can't get to.