Outlook 2000 and Exchange server timeout

We have remote Win 98 clients configured to dial into our NT 4 RAS server when they open Outlook 2000. Off-line storage is not an option -- they only have access to their mailboxes when connected. The problem is that the server connection times out while waiting for the RAS connection to complete. We've tried changing the "seconds until server connection timeout" value but it has no effect -- it stays at 30 seconds. Once the RAS connection is established, the users hit the retry button and they're in. Annoying but at least they connect.

Anybody know where else to change the server timeout value or how to make outlook dependant on the RAS connection?