02 Feb 2006 at 05:42 - 2
That does sound like lag, and a very probable possibility on a dial-up connection. When the client can't find new chat messages to display (you can check this by sending a chat of your own, it has to go to the server first) until the "stick" is over, then it's most likely lag. Might be your ISP too, what company are you with? Something might be bad on their end, causing a few seconds of disconnection. For a while I had a similar problem, my internet would disconnect completely and I experienced symptoms similar to the ones you are describing. Only difference is, I'd never get back in, my internet would die and then I'd play "Twiddle the Thumbs" until it came back.