Add a timeout to javascript ad tags

[Neil Sandow]

My site with servers located on the West Coast runs ads served by an
adserver on the East Coast. A not infrequent problem occurs when a
user on the West Coast tries to load a page but for whatever reason
can't reach the adserver. It causes a portion or the entire page to
hang until the request times out. This can take up to 30 seconds or
more. Is there a way to set up a time frame which will drop the
request or route it to a local default file under these circumstances?

Here's an example of a current tag for a 468 x 60 banner:

<!-- CODE FOR TOP BANNER -->
<SCRIPT TYPE='text/javascript' LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.1"
SRC="http://ads.mdchoice.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_jx.cgi/www.rxlist.com/A%%ID%%@Top?topic=%%CAT%%"></SCRIPT>
<SCRIPT TYPE='text/javascript' LANGUAGE="JavaScript"><!--_version=10;
//--> </SCRIPT>
<SCRIPT TYPE='text/javascript' LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.1">
<!--_version=11; // --> </SCRIPT>
<SCRIPT TYPE='text/javascript' LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
<!--if (navigator.appVersion.indexOf('MSIE 3')>
-1){document.write('<IFRAME WIDTH=468 HEIGHT=60 MARGINWIDTH=0
MARGINHEIGHT=0 HSPACE=0 VSPACE=0 FRAMEBORDER=0 SCROLLING=no
BORDERCOLOR="#000000"
SRC="http://ads.mdchoice.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_sx.cgi/www.rxlist.com/A%%ID%%@Top?topic=%%CAT%%"></iframe>');}
else if (_version < 11) {document.write ('<A
HREF="http://ads.mdchoice.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.cgi/www.rxlist.com/A%%ID%%@Top?topic=%%CAT%%">');document.write
('<img alt=" SRC="http://ads.mdchoice.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.cgi/www.rxlist.com/A%%ID%%@Top?topic=%%CAT%%"
border=0 WIDTH=468 HEIGHT=60></a>');}// --></SCRIPT>


Thanks! -Neil