Is a permanent internet connection necessary?

[Friederike]

No. Of course an internet connection has to be set up before the bid can be placed. This process takes about 2 to 5 seconds.
If your internet connection is is a dial-up connection (modem or ISDN) dialing-in has to happen automatically. This is normally set as standard.
To automatically terminate the connection you should activate automatic disconnecting from the internet after a certain idle time.