dial up keeps disconnecting

i'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but here's the problem:

my computer is less than 1yr old. i have dial up. isp is nocharge. 56k modem. my idle time is set to zero. i keep getting disconnected - sometimes after 2 minutes, sometimes after 20 minutes, sometimes it will stay connected for an hour or so but that is about as long as it gets. i had my friend bring her computer over to my house and she stayed connected for almost 3 hours without being kicked off(we finally shut her computer down). her isp is also nocharge. i'm just soooo fustrated.

any idea's what's wrong or what i can do?

thanks in advance for any advice!

 

My idle time before hang up is set to zero.

 

yep, mine is too.