I thought Bravenet was supposed to be a good servce, so I bought a basic pro account.

Now, I notice that it does not always instantly publish after you load up a file (or save changes to a file), even though it says it is supposed to.

And, as I type in this message - I cannot see my website. Apparently their server is down or something.

Is this kind of misbehavior the norm?

Yes same thing as you. Sometimes its takes for me 2hour-6hours but I read 24-72hours to see the changes and yes it is a bit discouraging.

Browser: pmva

You don't see changes because your browser has cached a previous version of the page. Delete your temporary internet files or press CTRL+F5 to force a refresh.

When a domain is set up anywhere on the web it takes several days for all the domain name servers around the world to recognise it.

When you upload a change to a page on any hosting the change takes place instantly but anyone looking at a cached copy of the old version wont see it until either the cached copy expires or they force a reload by pressing CTRL-F5.