DMN, welcome to the forum.

I would take a look through the following topics.  Lots of reading, but a lot of hard work and excellent information has been put into these.  ROM-DOS has his dial-up tweaked an insane amount.  If you put in the time and effort, I'm certain you will see results.

http://www.testmy.net/forum/index.php?topic=9597.0
http://www.testmy.net/forum/index.php?topic=9452.0
http://www.testmy.net/forum/index.php?topic=9723.0
http://www.testmy.net/forum/index.php?topic=10264.0

DMN ~ Try these setting in CableNut Adjuster
for XP on-line gaming.

DefaultReceiveWindow = 12288
DefaultSendWindow = 8192
DisableAddressSharing = 1
InitialLargeBufferCount = 100
InitialMediumBufferCount = 240
InitialSmallBufferCount = 320
LargeBufferSize = 12288
MaxFastTransmit = 6400
MediumBufferSize = 8192
PriorityBoost = 1
SmallBufferSize = 4096
TransmitWorker = 20
FastSendDatagramThreshold = 1024
EnableFastRouteLookup = 0
EnablePMTUDiscovery = 0
IgnorePushBitOnReceives = 0
GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize = 6432
MaxFreeTcbs = 8000
MaxHashTableSize = 16384
MaxNormLookupMemory = 5000000
SackOpts = 1
SynAttackProtect = 0
Tcp1323Opts = 0
TcpLogLevel = 1
MaxDupAcks = 2
TcpMaxHalfOpen = 100
TcpMaxHalfOpenRetried = 80
TcpRecvSegmentSize = 536
TcpSendSegmentSize = 536
TcpTimedWaitDelay = 30
TcpUseRFC1122UrgentPointer = 0
TcpWindowSize = 6432
MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server = 20 or 8
MaxConnectionsPerServer = 20 or 4
DefaultTTL = 64
DisableUserTOSSetting = 1
TcpMaxDataRetransmissions = 6 ~ you can raise this if you experience dis-connections
DefaultTOSValue = 96

The other thing you need to do for on-line gaming w/dial-up is turn off both hardware and software compression;
 
right click your connection icon in your system tray and click status (or goto Network Connections), > Properties under General tab > Connect using ~ click Configure and uncheck Enable modem compression.
Now goto Networking tab > Type of dial-up server I am calling > Settings and uncheck Enable software compression.

now goto Control Panel > Phone and Modem Options > Modems > Advanced tab > click Change Default Settings and in Data Connection Preferences > choose Disabled for Compression.

. . .after many tweaking nights ~ these are the best settings I have found for on-line gaming w/dial-up.

Hey DMN.First ROM has an exceptional connection
I think he would be the first to admit that.Most of us with dial-up do not.Yours may be already as good
as you are going to get it but trying the tweaks can make your connection perform better in
a lot of cases.The testmy test shows you have AOL a lot of people complain about AOL I
haven't had an AOL connection so I don't know but in general if you can get an ISP thats not
AOL it will probably be better.
ROM suggests disabling compression but when he does this it forces MSMPPC compression.
My ISP doesn't support this so when I disabled all compression I experienced a real slow down
It may be the same for you.
I will see if I can find you something on getting the network places to work.
There are several regedits in the link so which one do you have a question about?
Try the tcpip analyzer at the site below & post the results.
http://www.[this.site.has.been.blocked.for.spamming]/
Also you line or loop distance is a major factor on dial-up speed.Thee best way to find
legnth is to call your telephone company but the CO distance here is a good estimate to start with.
post your distance after checking.
http://www.dslreports.com/prequal/distance

DMN some of the information in this MS article may help trobleshoot & fix your network places.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/825826/en-us
I think the regedit settings in this link are not for XP but 98 &ME.
http://www.webnovice.com/dec00/modemoverclock.htm
The only way to find your line or loop distance then will be to call your telephone company.You need to talk to a tech.
I will do some checking into compuserve but the few disconnects sounds good.
Your ISP is probably setting the MTU at 1400 but it could be something else maybe ROM could help with this.I think he had to get his to work at 576 for gaming.
Have you installed cablenut?The settings below in cablenut may help this.It makes the settings in the registry for you.
TcpWindowSize = 6432
 GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize = 6432
TcpRecvSegmentSize = 536
TcpSendSegmentSize = 536
EnablePMTUDiscovery = 0

DMN; The shortest phone cable from the PC to the wall is best .But you need to have it usable
not many will use a cable so short they have to set the PC on the floor by the wall jack   
On this setting if you don't like the way it performs change back to 1.EnablePMTUDiscovery = 0
On the phone cable if you can make your own with twisted pair CAT3 or Cat5 they are the best quality.You probably already do this but your modem internal or external should be the only thing plugged into the wall jack.& no phone plugged into the modem .Most have a place for this but it lowers performance.

DMN:Unless the changes in cablenut change the MTU then I don't know maybe ROM can help you with this when hes here.
I'm not much of a fan of tweak programs they mostly make system changes for you you can make yourself & may make some changes you don't want. But I will give it a look.

DMN;Maybe this will help with changing the MTU I didn't ask but I assumed you have XP. .I didn't find 3 pages of options for Internet Tweak at the link or anything about xD.
A lot of the information below is for PPPoE but I think some of it can be applied to Dial-up so XP will use  MTU of 576 & MSS of 536 for dial-up.When this is what is wanted.

 I find some conflicts of information on this .So I guess you need to try it both ways
 if you are having problems setting the MTU.
 EnablePMTUDiscovery
When set to 1 (True), TCP attempts to discover MTU automatically over the path to a remote host. Setting this parameter to
0 causes MTU to default to 576 which reduces overall performance over high speed connections.
OR
Setting MTU overrides the default MTU for the network interface it is added to. Note that if
EnablePMTUDiscovery is set to 1, TCP will use the smaller value of this local MTU and the
"Discovered" MTU of the underlying network connection. If you'd rather use only the MTU value
 specified here, you'd have to disable PMTUDiscovery, which would prevent your system from
detecting the network MTU.
The above information seems to conflict.
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
EnablePMTUDiscovery="1" (DWORD - boolean, valid settings are 0-->False and 1-->True. Many connections perform better with
this entry at 1, however, if you prefer to set your upstream to send fixed 1500 packets, you might want to use 0 instead).
When set at 1, establishing connections and initial transfer speed might slow down a bit, however you will get better
 throughput if somewhere in the path large packets need to be fragmented.
To modify the PPPoE MTU size, create the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Ndiswan\Parameters\Protocols\0
Then add the following registry entries.Entry name Data type Value data
ProtocolType REG_DWORD 0x00000800
PPPProtocolType REG_DWORD 0x00000021
ProtocolMTU REG_DWORD the appropriate MTU size (in decimal)
To do this: 1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Ndiswan\Parameters
3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click Key.
4. Type Protocols, and then press ENTER.
5. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click Key.
6. Type 0, and then press ENTER.
7. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
8. Type ProtocolType, and then press ENTER.
9. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
10. Type 800, and then click OK.
11. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
12. Type PPPProtocolType, and then press ENTER.
13. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
14. Type 21, and then click OK.
15. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
16. Type ProtocolMTU, and then press ENTER.
17. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
18. Type the appropriate MTU size (decimal value), and then click OK.
19. Quit Registry Editor.
Notes• Therefore, if the MTU size is set to 1460 (decimal), the max value of NUM in the following command line can be 1432:
ping IP_address -f -l NUM
• You may have to restart the computer to make the change take effect.
 This is another setting in XP
Registry Settings
System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\
Interfaces\[Adapter ID]]
Value Name: MTU
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: Default = 0xffffffff
Example:  MTU REG_DWORD 0x000005dc (1500)
HKLM/SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize="256960" (DWORD, number of bytes) Valid range is from MSS to 2^30. Add the value as a decimal.
 Note: For best results RWIN has to be a multiple of MSS lower than 65535 times a scale factor that's a power of 2,
i.e. 44 x 1460 = 64240 x 2^2 = 256960. If you choose to use a RWIN lower than 65535, you can simply make it multiple of MSS
and turn scaling off (Tcp1323Opts=0)
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
TcpWindowSize="256960" (DWORD, number of bytes) Valid range is from MSS to 2^30. Add the value as a decimal. TcpWindowSize
can also exist under TcpipParametersInterface - if added at this location, it overrides the global setting for this
particular . Note (10/20/00): Seems MS has found another bug in Windows 2000, the TCPWindowSize should be configured with
the global setting (GlobalMaxTcpWindowsSize) rather than this one - Q263088
note: For best results RWIN has to be a multiple of MSS lower than 65535 times a scale factor that's a power of 2,
i.e. 44 x 1460 = 64240 x 2^2 = 256960. If you choose to use a RWIN lower than 65535, you can simply make it multiple of MSS
 and turn scaling off (Tcp1323Opts=0)
Tcp1323Opts
Tcp1323Opts is a necessary setting in order to enable Large TCPWindow support as described in RFC 1323. Without this
parameter, the TCPWindow is limited to 64K.
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
Tcp1323Opts="1" (DWORD, recommended setting is 1. The possible settings are 0 - Disable RFC 1323 options, 1 - Window scaling
 but no Timestamp options, 3 - Window scaling and Time stamp options.)
Note: Tcp1323Opts="3" might help in some cases where there is increased packet loss, however generally you'll achieve better
 throughput with Tcp1323Opts="1", since Timestamps add 12 bytes to the header of each packet.