Why cant I send and receive my Email using MS Outlook?

[Zero]

I have an account with Hotmail and have started using MS Outlook to send and receive my Email, however sometimes I get an error message stating Request Timed Out. Why is this? I have also tried to ping Hotmail and get the same message. I have succesfully pinged The Answer Bank without a problem. Are these related issues. Most of this is pretty new to me so any advice welcome.

[lisaj]

This is most likely because when using Outlook to access Hotmail, it basically does the browsing bit for you: the Request Timed Out is due to being unable to connect to hotmail at that time. This in itself however can be caused by almost anything, from your ISPs connectivity, to their provider, or even microsoft's network for the return journey from Hotmail to yourself... You can still access Answerbank because it is an entirely different website, hosted most likely in the UK when hotmail is in the US.