Dialer issues

[blotto]

I find the internet dialup script in OS X to be pretty hopeless. here are some of the issues I have:

1 - The modem speaker activates about 10-15 seconds AFTER dialing actually occurs. Even though the dialing has already happened and the ISP has answered, it echos the dialing then goes to the connect tone.
2 - The connect tone from the computer speaker (modem?) lags about 2 seconds behind the actual tone coming through the phone line.

These aren't critical issues, I just wonder what it's processing in the meantime.

The big issue is that one of my ISPs is VERY touchy and doesn't like Mac. I have to dial in 10-20 times before I get a connect. I'm starting to wonder if it's really them, or it's my modem. It usually disconnects immediately after it answers, sometimes returning an error message that MY modem disconnected. Usually though my modem just hangs in there sometime for as long as 30 seconds before it realises that there's no carrier. It's a painful wait, especially when it takes me 10-20 tries to connect.

Does any of this sound familiar or possibly indicate a hardware/software problem?

Thanks.

B