When I am online sometimes the pages time out, normally for no more than 5 minutes, and then then my internet access returns without me doing any troubleshooting. When the internet is not working all the lights are on my on as if it should be working. The problem with this is that I will be going to school online next month, and I dont want my connection dropping in the middle of an exam. The techs checked the line, the phone line is good. I have the 660 series dsl modems. They were provided by my ISP, if that matters.

Look at the event viewer for errors. If you have a modem and a router, connect the PC directly to the modem in case the router is causing the dropped connection.

What you can do is the next time you're online surfing open a command prompt window and start a continuous ping. For example: ping -t www.google.com Then minimize that window and go about your business. If the system freezes up on you, maximize that window and see if the ping has stopped replying. If it doesn't stop replying then you're not becoming disconnected and the problem could be as simple as network congestion or a busy server (or router) causing delays and resends. However, if it does stop pinging, then you need to test to ensure your network cable(s) and the NIC on your PC are good. If they're working properly then you'll want to contact your ISP's support people and let them know. It could be a bad modem or an issue on their end.