After we had this exchange last night I decided to install gpsapp+roadmap, and threw my empeg in the closet on the network and started experienceing this exact behavior. Throughput over ftp could be measured in kb/minute, really, and empty syncs would work fine. Syncs with one file would usualy time out. It took me half an hour to finally replace the network cable to the empeg, and everything worked perfectly. Needless to say, that cable is now in the trash can.

Matthew