Not to add more confusion to the mix, but couldn't the slowdown also be on the rcpt's end? Up front, my familiarity with POP and SMTP is rudimentary at best, but I seem to believe that some sys are configured to only pick up mail and pass it on to userss mailboxes every now and again (esp. if one's outside connetion is only intermitent, or it's a narrow pipe that has more imp. biz to attend to.) I'm just saying that, after a point, no matter how fast you send it, there's still a possibility that the rcpt won't get it for a bit, and there's no doing anything about it. (in the likelihood that I'm on crack re: POP and SMTP, here, please someone set my straight.)

The Autonomic Pilot; it's FunkyTown, babe.