is MSN your provider? i've had trouble with them
I also have Earthlink, less trouble with time outs.
I'm on rural dialup 56k modem, connection speed 26.4 on a good day, else 24.0
I uploaded my wmp skin several times, each one went through and it's 3mb - just took a while...on the other hand it took me 33+ hours to download the full XPSP2