You are the one that said that "Customer support is almost non-existent". We can't help you if you don't participate. Maybe there is something that you just don't have quite right. It could be that your ISP is blocking you. I know for sure that the steps listed in the tutorials work for clean installs for most people. Above all this, there has never been a guarantee of 100% QOS, so if you are looking for that, you know were it is. I'm not defending the server itself, but the issues you state are not common, if you look at the size of the user base. If you want to move on, maybe an e-mail to the server operators might be the ticket.
This thread has run its course, and if you still have issues, start a thread in the appropriate area.