Connectivity issues

[vsp]

Connectivity fun:

1) My Verizon DSL connection is annoying me a bit. At intervals, I'll attempt to open up a new link in IE and my connection will freeze for about 15-20 seconds... then the new pages will load as nothing had happened. It's not all the time -- maybe once every fifteen-to-twenty minutes. During this time, the rest of the system is fine -- I can use other applications, so it's not a system lockup.

When doing things like BitTorrent, file downloads, etc., I haven't noticed any problems of this nature. It's only when browsing. (I am trying to replicate the problem in Firebird.)

If I leave my DSL connection on-but-unused for a while (say, I close IE, I go in the other room to get a sandwich, and I come back), it generally exhibits this behavior. It's less explainable when I'm actively browsing through a site (or sites, in multiple windows) and these sudden lockups occur.

Stats: 98SE, 768/128 DSL, IE 6.0.2800, all Windows Update patches applied, Spybot comes up clean, Ad-Aware 6 comes up clean, Norton AntiVirus comes up clean, HijackThis shows nothing unusual in the startup list, Task Manager shows no unusual processes running.

I'd like to work out whether this is a problem on my end (something fubared in Windows) or on their end before getting a Verizon drone on the phone.

2) My father's trying to activate his new Verizon DSL account. Unfortunately, he gets to the point where he'll actually connect to Verizon for the first time... and AOL 9 (still installed) leaps in, attempts to connect itself and hoses the install process.

He doesn't want to kill AOL _yet_, since he wants to make sure that things like PayPal and eBay contact addresses are forwarded to his new email before shitcanning the old one. Can't blame him there. AOL is notorious for sinking hooks into the OS, so while he's busy calling Verizon's tech support (since they probably get this question on a daily basis)... any ideas?