During an exchange of communications between a client and a server, the state of communications is monitored to determine if the client has lost communication with the server prior to completion of the exchange. If a loss of communication is detected, a recovery message is transmitted to the client, wherein the recovery message is received by the client after client communications with the network are re-established. The recovery message causes the client to send a response message to a predetermined network location. Receipt of the response message is an indication that the client has re-established communication. In such a case, the exchange is returned to a state that existed prior to the loss of communication.