What you have to do is click on pause, go away and brew up, and by the time you get back the stream has downloaded, and you can watch without the jerky... perhaps! It often sorts the lip-sync problem, too.

If you look at the progress indicator, you'll see that, in addition to the pointer that tells you where you are in the movie file, there is another in the background, showing you how much has downloaded.

Broadband is usually cheaper than dial-up, these days... unless you're in an area where it doesn't work, o'course!