before i got the results posted above, I attempted to stop testing FDC. the reason behind is my installation of Firefox 3 Beta 3, which i believe is faster than its previous version. unfortunately, FDC doesn't work with Firefox 3 Beta 3.
plus, my installation of Windows XP SP3 version 3282 has slowed down my speed. i found out later that it rolled back my half-open connections from 100 to 10. changed it again to 100 with tcpip patch, which is contrary to the belief that it does not work with SP3.
FDC is almost a month on test today. it started on January 23, 2008.