I've grown up with Limewire since 1.2.
Every once in a while I try another share program - like bearshare - to see if it can top Limewire - but I keep coming back.
Today I upgraded to 1.7c - and had the same connect issues - then went to limewire.com - and it was down.
I was grateful that it was just a server problem - cause there is no client better than limewire.
And when I did what "crohrs" said "connect through bearshare.net:6346" - ALL WORKS GREAT AGAIN!

Give these people a fair shake - after all look at what you get compared to what you pay.