Adventures in iPTF - anybody using it?

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All,

I don't have a support line agreement with IBM, so I don't have the ability to 
order PTF's at no charge on CD-ROM media (at least that is my understanding).

SO....

I registered last night on IBM's web site for 
iPTF(http://www-912.ibm.com/supporthome.nsf/Document/10000083), then sent a PTF 
order for PTF SF99510 (the lastest cum) for V5R1M0.  Since this was larger than 
you can immediately download, I received back an email with a user id & 
password and instructions for downloading the image files from IBM's FTP site.

Then the fun begins:

All of the following was done from a DELL PIII 866 on my home network running 
Windows 2000 Server SP3 with IE 6 browser with all of the latest fixes behind a 
Linksys router with  the DMZ set to my PC's IP address on the RoadRunner 
network here in Austin.

1) I first tried following the instructions for downloading the PTF images via 
my web browser by clicking the link specified in the email.  When I clicked on 
this link , my browser locked up each time I tried it.  Each time, I eventually 
had to go to the task manager and cancel the browser session, because it was 
totally locked up.

2) I tried using SmartFTP to download these files (using both passive and 
active modes).  It was able to copy the small text files, but when I tried 
copying the binary image files, it also either locked up or the file transfer 
canceled after a few seconds.

3) I tried to use FTP from a command window.  I was able to log on to the FTP 
site, but it locked up when I tried to GET the first file, so I had to cancel 
this also.

4) I know there is an option to do this with Ops Navigator, but I haven't had 
enough experience with this option to try it yet.  Plus, it looks like I need 
to have Management Central running to use Ops Navigator to download PTF's, and 
I tried but couldn't get the *MGTC service started.  (This in itself could 
probably be another whole message thread)...

5) I did NOT try downloading these files directly to my AS/400, mainly because 
I haven't yet read about how to set up image catalogs in order to use them from 
the IFS.  I figured that if I could download these binaries to PC, I could burn 
them to CD's and load them from the burned CD's.

6) I also navigated to the iSeries Access Service Packs site 
(http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iseries/access/casp.htm) and attempted to 
download the latest CAE service pack for V5R1M0 (SI05361), and my browser 
locked up when I clicked the link for this service pack.

At 2:00 am, I finally gave up and went to bed....

In the worst case, I can probably just borrow a copy of the CD's from a friend 
if I have to.  I was just trying to see if I could do it via the internet.  I 
thought I could just let the files download overnight and have them ready the 
next morning.  (Sounds too easy, huh?).

Have any of you used this option to download PTF's?  If so, have you 
experienced this level of difficulty in downloading PTF's?

Frustrated in Austin,

Steve Landess
(512) 423-0935