apt-get update hangs

[Project Manager <project.manager@web.de>]

Hi all -

On my debian 3.0 install, "apt-get update" simply times out spitting
errors that "connection timed out", with folln output

   Err http://ftp.de.debian.org woody/main Packages
     Could not connect to ftp.de.debian.org:80 (141.76.2.4), connection
   timed out
   Err http://security.debian.org woody/updates/main Packages
     Could not connect to security.debian.org:80 (194.109.137.218),
   connection timed out
   Err http://ftp.de.debian.org woody/main Release
     Could not connect to ftp.de.debian.org:80 (141.76.2.4), connection
   timed out

However pings to these sites are successful.  And being http requests,
I presume there shouldn't really be a limit on number of simultaneous 
connections.

Assuming that apt-get uses the ftp client on my installation, I tried 
using the ftp client from command prompt to different ftp sites, which 
failed to the sites listed in my sources.list, but otherwise connect 
successfully. So my ftp client seems to be working.

Why isn't my apt-get able to connect to these sites.  No proxy in the
way, no firewall - and "apt-get" works from my other debian machines in 
the same subnet.

Thanks in advance,
Jonnas