php.dev, network timeout??

This isn't strictly a php question. Its actually a question about the mailing lists in general. I know I must be doing something really stupid but I seem to be having a lot of problems with network timeouts while browsing the mailing lists. The dev mailing list is the worst as I have yet to successfully make a connection there. Can anyone give me some good advice on how to fix this problem? I'm using thunderbird to browse. Thanks in advance, ~jon