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What are the REAL usage times?

In general, you need to be aware of 3 things:

Idle time out.

10 minutes.
Idle time out is the length of time the Server sees inactivity during your dialup session. This is how long your connection will last before the phone is hung up on you.
For example: When replying to an email and you start emoting and thinking and writing a reply and it gets a little longer and you want to say it "just right"... well, time goes by. It may not feel like 10 minutes, but a popup window (if you're lucky) says, "You have been disconnected."
This is not uncommon. Read your email offline. You aren't using the connection when you're reading the messages on your hard drive, or composing a message in the Webmail interface.
The Server has seen no Internet activity (data transfer) during the time you've been writing, so it disconnects you.
If you are actively surfing to a new website or page, or downloading/uploading a file, or listening to online radio or music, or actively chatting, you are not idle. The Server's 10 minute clock starts over again every time there is no traffic.

Length of a single session.

5 hours.
Don't you need to get up and move around or go to the bathroom? ;-)>>>
You can log off and dial back in again for another 5 hour session. (Please allow 60 seconds before logging back in. This allows time for the server to reset from your previous session.)
16 hours, or more, a day is considered "Dedicated Access" by most national network providers. If you use it that much, we will probably be asked by our provider to cancel your account and you'll have to find another Internet Service Provider.

Monthly hourly usage.

If you want to check how close you are getting to your limit in a month, click here.
Monthly usage will depend on the network you chose when you signed up. 85% of Internet users use less than 150 hours in a month. That comes to 5 hours a day.
UU (UUnet) has a 150 hour limit, but is known to be extremely reliable. They are the largest Internet backbone provider worldwide.
QW (Qwest) has a 200 hour limit, but is also extremely reliable.
If you go over your monthly limit on either of these networks, your password gets turned off until the beginning of the next month.
We've only had 2 customers approach these limits since we started this business.
TE (Telia), ST (Starnet) and FI (Filtered) are the Unlimited networks. They have all proven to be very reliable and we confidently recommend any Network that has dialup numbers available in your area.
Each of these network providers may be available in areas the others aren't. Many times, they share access numbers.

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I can't dial out from the hotel we're staying at, and I KNOW it is a local call. What's up?

This is EXACTLY what occurred with a friend of ours.
Turns out, some of the dialup numbers in certain areas are not on the same exchanges as voice phone numbers. The hotel itself, has a block on numbers outside of the local calling area, therefore not recognizing the prefix of the computer access number, even though it is a local call.
A possible fix would be to try adding "1" + the Area Code to your dialer.
This may or may not work. Otherwise, contact the hotel personnel and see if they have a way around the blocking, like adding a "9" or "8" to the prefix; or if they offer modem connections in a certain area of their establishment.

You advertise 56k dialup speeds and I'm only getting...(alot less)...???

There are many factors involved with dialup access through the phone lines.
If you have a fairly recent computer, running Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, or XP, you should be connecting at the maximum speed the FCC allows. This is CLOSE to 56k.

Check your modem drivers.
Go to the computer manufacturers website, and make sure your computer model has all the upgrades and updates installed, that have been published since you bought the system. Usually, this will apply to Win 98 systems and some WinNT systems. The newer Operating Systems, ME, 2000 and XP rarely need their modem drivers updated and will work at speed "out of the box". Of course, there may be other updates that should be applied to your system.

Check your phone wiring.
This includes the modem phone wire to the wall. Have the phone company check the wiring coming to the building, and even inside, if necessary.

Did it just rain?
Soaked phone lines, that are evaporating, can cause interference with the signal. You may even hear static when talking on the line.

Here's one we learned when we moved to a more rural location:
You may be on a "split phone line". Your voice calls go through beautifully but your dialup goes at half the speed (or less) you thought you'd get.
We moved our computers from town to our new location, up a dirt road about 6 miles away. We didn't change a thing on our computers, just our residence.
We never get speeds above 26,400 when we dialup. Fortunately, the phone installer knew our area and announced we were on a "split phone line".
It is our understanding that more remote areas may be split even further, achieving dialup speeds as low as 9600, while voice works beautifully. Can't help you there...