have others seen this before with xml parsers?

Um, it's not the parser...it's the network...and the internet. XML parsers don't control the internet (no matter how much they try)...they can't force it to return the XML you want. So all you can do is retry some number of times and hope you get what you wanted. What if the server at the other end of the URL is down? Or has fallen into a sinkhole? What's supposed to happen then?