Looking for help with a browser/connection problem, making an internet connection more stable

Hi!

First of all, I am not sure this is the right forum for my question but I have scanned through a number of posts and think it might fit somewhere.

I am an English teacher in China and live in a dormitory on campus. I have to use the campus internet service, which, while not blazing fast is not too bad. The connecting part is a pain in the rear. To connect I have to open a browser, go to a url, enter my account and then password. So far, no problem. The problems occur when the internet decides to cut me off. It is supposed to do so after 10 minutes of inactivity, which seldom happens because I usually listen to internet radio while online. Sometimes, however, it arbitrarily cuts me off after 2 or 3 minutes but there may be no indication of this until I do something that causes the tabs (firefox) to refresh, which sends all of my hard earned seach results into the trash can. Sometimes, after I log back in, I can hit the back button and they will return but sometimes not. The IT staff have said that there is nothing that can be done about this. they are nice people...but I have found them to be lacking in knowledge and expertise in the past and suspect the same in this situation.

One thing I am thinking about doing is installing a second browser - like the Tiny browser I found on a post here - and dedicating that to the task of connecting to the internet. The websites seem to get messed up in the process of reconnecting.

Is there any way to "get under the hood" of a browser and fix this? The standard, off the shelf apps do not seem to offer an assistance....so I turn to the people who can rip a program to shreds and pluck its heart out.

Hmm... over a week and no advice?

Perhaps the forum needs to know more about the type of connection you have?

This not my area, yet, so...

Any chance your IT people are playing tricks on you, perhaps from your lack of faith in the departments abilities?

Maybe streaming radio is not considered inactivity, or rather thier servers notice this type of activity and cut-it off during peak usage to help with bandwidth?

Anyone have some other advice on this topic?