CLOSE_WAIT Problem

I wrote a simple server application and installed it on a linux machine in Slovakia, running Mandrake 7.2 (2.2.18).
That machine loses tcp/ip packages, as it uses a Microwave connection. So my server works all the time, and the tcp/ip connections are set to TIME_WAIT, but after a couple of hours
my server application won't get any connections anymore and the netstat shows a lot of CLOSE_WAITs that belong to the server.
I've installed the same server on two SuSE 7.1 (2.2.18) machines in Austria, and the problem never occured.
So does anyone know how to avoid that CLOSE_WAITs, or at least how to get rid of them?