funny thing is, i've always defended talktalk and in some respects, i probably always will.

i know i'm one of the rare ones that have had no real problems getting it all set up and running, and up until about 6 weeks ago, i really had no issues with it at all.

from that point to this, i've basically had a connection that will drop roughly once every 2 or 3 minutes when i first sign on.

to try and gauge how often it happened one afternoon, i powered up my PC and signed in. in a 15 minute period, it dropped and re-established the connection 18 times.

i've tried to get it resolved through customer services but i haven't gotten anywhere and i've really come to the end of my rope to be honest.

BUT .. the problem is .. i've been quoted £124 to go back to BT and it's money I simply cannot afford in my wildest dreams.

Virgin would be the other possibility, but I've still got some debt problems with Telewest, so I doubt Virgin would let me have a contract without a deposit of somewhere in the region of what i'd have to pay BT to go back.

So i'm stuck - I can't go to many companies without BT line rental, so in effect, i'm held hostage by TalkTalk .. sort of

Have you tried the TalkTalk forum on thinkbroadband.com ?
TalkTalkBoy might be able to help if its your settings at fault: but my betting's on the LLU line.
We abandoned TT (after formal complaints and a full refund) and returned to BT who have so far given us £130 in compensation for their incompetence in billing and connections. One of the hopeless 'GB' account numbers.
If its really TalkTalk's fault, try CEO dunstoc@cpw.co.uk

i haven't, but i'll certainly look - thanks.

i guess it's more of a case that i'm held hostage by my own finacial situation in some respects.

if i could afford to go to another provider, i would.