I don't know if this would be of any help or not but have you tried a download manager for downloading large files? When I had dial up I would use one to download my files and it was a great help (just don't recall which one I used).
There are (or at least use to be) a few free ones out there and some of them would support / have a resume feature as well.
I did find a link for one called free download manager at http://download.cnet.com/Free-Download-Manager/3000-2071_4-10522685.html
another one is at http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/
and http://www.speedbit.com/
this one isn't free but you can try it for free http://getright.com/
I also found this that might be of some help http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1642530
You can do a search for download managers (or Free Download Manager) and find many different links for this type of software.
Good point
Injr, I should have mentioned this as well. I use
FreeDownloadManager:
http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/download.htm which is completely
FREE that I've found works really well, the great part about using a download manager like this is that even if the connection is interrupted (like a connection time-out) most downloads can be restarted where the download left off so that no time is lost and the download can be completed with no problem as far as download time related to file size since the download continues at the point of the interrupt. I use the
FDM Lite version of FreeDownloadMangaer which is only about 3.8MB in size since I don't need the full blown FreeDownloadManager application (you probably won't either).
This would solve your problem
atryeu, also you've mentioned you still have "call waiting". If that's true then as long as you didn't mind paying for the software up front for around $29.95,
NetWaiting would solve your problem as far as getting calls while on line since "call waiting" is all that application really needs (I pretty certain "Caller ID" is totally optional, all you'll know is when a incoming call arrives in case your expecting something important and not who the caller is (I only us the application in these situations myself when an important call is expected and I pause the Internet connection to see who it is and if it's not the important call I'm expecting I ask them to call back in order to get back to the paused Internet connection within 6 minutes).
So
atryeu, the
FREE download manager should resolve most of your disconnect issues during large file downloads (a few downloads are not compatible with the "interrupt", the download manager will tell you in advance if this feature will work with the download file your using at the time).
The two features that will help you out using
FreeDownloadManager are:
Download acceleration:
Free Download Manager splits files into several sections and downloads them simultaneously, allowing you to use any type of connection at the maximum available speed.
Resuming broken downloads:
When the downloading process is interrupted, you needn't start from the beginning again. Free Download Manager can resume broken download from where it was interrupted.
And perhaps
NetWaiting will help out if you use the Internet a lot and need to know about incoming calls during this time.