I am trying to use the Bravenet FTP service, but whenever I try to access freeftp.bravehost.com, it times out.

Connections do sometimes.

Could be Bravenet
Could be your ISP
Could be your phone company
Could be any other internet node between your PC and Bravenet.

I have a back up ISP on a pay-as-you-go dial up connection which gives me an alternative route to wherever I need to be on the net. (Added benefit of 15meg ad-free space with no bandwidth limit)

Im on a standard Cable Connection, and don't have problems connecting to any other servers.