Try downloading a traceroute utility to test your connection speed.  (At www.pingplotter.com there is a freeware program called PingPlotter.) 

Trace to www.hitechcreations.com.  Ideally, your connection should have no more than 250ms ping times to this server.  Also, MAKE SURE there is NO packet loss whatsoever.  If you do see packet loss, post your traceroute to the technical support forum and let HTC contact the appropriate networks.

If you have a Dial-Up (Modem) connection, try calling your ISP and getting their MTU settings and making sure yours match.  To do this, you will have to play around in your registry, for most of us this is NOT a good idea.  Fortunately, MTU optimizing utilities exist and can be downloaded for free on the Internet.  (Make sure you make a backup copy of your registry if you do decide to play with those settings!)

Modem settings can be reconfigued as follows:
Go to Modems in the Control Panel and select properties.  Change your Maximum Speed to the next lowest setting.
Next select the Connections tab and click on Port Settings.  Reset Receive and Transmit buffers to low.
Next click on Advanced (still on Connections Tab).  Uncheck Compress Data under the "Use Error Control" section.
You may have to adjust these settings to find what works best for you.