G'day Rick,
The delay in connection would be caused by "Delay Engine" as Lucky mentioned, but once you connect, it should be as fast as normal.
If it is slow listing directories as well, then that would be a concern, AFAIK delay Engine only comes into play during the initial logon, not once you are connected.
Our experience with the DSS FTP has been good, no specific errors that I recall.

I assume this is via a LAN, so it should not be a Passive or Active issue, and/or MTU.
Can you confirm you still have problems listing the directories?
Which client are you using? Does it do the same via Dos FTP?

Rgds Ben.