SiS -

I note:
suddenly it's trying to connect to my email isp, not mudcat -

Is your email ISP the same as your web ISP? I use a POTS (plain old telephone service) connection, and it will frequently "drop" the connection - especially if the net is busy. It then has to "redial" to connect to the ISP before it can hook me back to where I'm surfing. Since everything goes in and out of your machine through your ISP, it may be just doing a "wake-up" there, and will proceed to the connection you want if it's successful.

Mudcat has had some "capacity problems" recently, and the "web site found, waiting for connection" probably means that the 'cat server is hung up in traffic. I don't know what the busy times for the 'cat are, but 6:00 AM 'cat time is about 11:00 AM in Hull, and we know how much bandwidth those guys use. I get the "hang" most often about 02:00 CST, which is about 08:00 AM in Hull.(I guess there are other euro time zones?)

John