Thanks for the reply. I did think about uninstalling/re-installing the software, but was confused with the CD. There didn't seem to be a seperate one the modem, just for BT BB itself. The modem software is maybe on that but I wasn't sure so didn't want to mess with it until I had to.
I had no idea that USB modems drained the computer's resources. You learn something new every day! The computer is pretty old and fairly low spec. compared to newer ones, so I think I will follow your advice and purchase a modem that connects via ethernet and hope that that solves the problem. Can you recommend a decent one that will do the job? It's just a modem that I'd be after. I notice that I accidently used 'router' at one point in the above post.
I can only get online at work at the moment and am off for a while over Xmas and New Year so will need to get it sorted soon! Thanks again. Glynn.