Answer: Statsaholic Windows client
In the Oct. 28th version of the Statsaholic Windows client, Virus changed the number of network attempts from 48 to 4, this may reduce the problem. I haven't tried the 10/28 version.
So the NotreDame Windows client does not exhibit this problem? I think the ND version still uses 48 attempts. Interesting.
[Update] Ok, I tried the 10/28 version, it hangs for 12 minutes and then resumes number crunching. So if you're using an older version of the Statsaholic Windows client the stall time would be at least 144 minutes.[/Update]