I have the 15Mbps service with Verizon FIOS, so it should be fast. I was still able to browse around pretty good. Must have been heavy traffic on MIcrosoft's end. The hardware is good since the laptop is new with Vista preinstalled on it so I know there's no hardware issues. Software wise, I have nothing else added to it except what it came with. I keep it clean, yet installation still takes forever.
I think it must have been the other Windows Updates working at the same time with SP1....