If there was a new patch released it could just be that you were trying to d/l the patch during peak hours, did you try letting it go over night? Check to see if you have all the ports opened in your router that Xbox uses, I had to do this when I played online through my PS2 made a little bit of a difference.

 

^ that could totally be it, but I think my connection is just too slow because it will dl to about 65% then time out/start over with message (attempt 2 of 3). Always seems to hang at the same point....

 

If your NAT type on the screen of your game doesn't say open you are probably not going to get the best connection

 

Check the nat type, just run test xbox live connection and it'll tell you. If it's not open chances are it won't be able to connect all the way. And did you say you had dsl?

 

Centurytel DSL isn't bad, and a Westell is probably the best modem/router out there.

 

We have always had subpar service from CenturyTel and CenturyLink doesn't seem to be an improvement...just my .02