FTP connection problems

I'm not getting much joy posting in other places so i'll post this here:

I have 2 FTP softwares - CuteFTP and SmartFTP.
I have a number of sites I want to upload to.

I have used both FTP softwares and tried all the sites but all it does is, connects and then times out and then waits for another 30 seconds before retrying.
Since it happens to all the sites, I figure there must be a connection problem on my end.

Here is the message I get:

STATUS:> Getting listing " "...
STATUS:> Connecting to ftp server 66.90.73.48:21 (ip = 66.90.73.48)...
STATUS:> Socket connected. Waiting for welcome message...
ERROR:> Control connection closed.
STATUS:> Waiting 30 seconds...

I don't have a firewall and Windows Firewall is not active (the box is not checked).

What can I do to resolve the problem?

secondly, how do I connect to ftp using command.com?

Appreciate the help,
JH

 

I've solved it. Just restarted Application Layer Gateway and that sorted it
Thanks