No, because the web control panel will still time out a session based on the HTTP settings, where as telnet will time out a session based on the running-processes settings.
You need to discuss this with any new ISP, and they may be able to provide a solution in the form of a specific permission to run certain scripts.
Unfortunately, because of the wide spread abuses, and reality issues on performance and cpu, to run an active links site you really need a committment from your ISP, or you need to have a dedicated server.
Some companies are offering the small dedicated servers at reasonable rates. They are rack-mount type all-in-one units, that offer reasonable small to mid-sized site performance.
By definition, a 30,000 links database with 15,000 vists x 5 hits a day is a "large" site. The cgi processes can raise that as well.
There are costs in setting up any project, and many people feel that money is "free". They can set up monster, resource intenisve sites, and pocket all the money at the ISP's expense... well the ISP's have gotten smarter, and have started limiting the sites, which works for probably 90-95% of the users out there. Serious users are getting caught because they are being charged -- often times -- more than the costs of the resources because the ISP's don't know how to allocate and charge for the big sites, they are afraid of getting burned by the guys who are out to consume resources, and they want to protect their cash cows -- which are the guys who get a 50 meg website and 5 email addresses and put up 2 pages with 20 hits a month (all by the owner) and usage of 1 email address for 10 junkmails a day.
Sad but true.
If you want to find an ISP, you can't go discount, you need to decide how big your database will be, how active it will be, what sort of performance you want, and then shop for an ISP that offers it.
You will need an ISP that offers a MySQL solution package (like the links hosting offered here) or you'll need a dedicated machine.
Look for a hosting company that only offers hosting, and which caters to businesses. Look in the mid-priced or custom pricing sections.
------------------
POSTCARDS.COM -- Everything Postcards on the Internet
www.postcards.com LinkSQL FAQ: www.postcards.com/FAQ/LinkSQL/