Most FTP clients on OS X are quite slow, so I tried to find an alternative and found it. Using FinkCommander (or just fink, of course) and install axyftp, a graphical FT client running under X11.
It's very fast and reliable, and nice to look at and work with. It's a breeze to work with after I handled Transmit, RBrowser (a horrible CPU hog) or CaptainFTP. Of course it's a matter of taste, not everybody might want to start up X11 for it, but I run X11 permanently and like the Motif GUI, which is something else than the all-time Aqua. Give it a try if you like...
[robg adds: As a side note, since it's related to the subject of slow FTP clients, the Transmit 2.5 update released this week offers a major speed increase. While it was somewhat slow before, especially on large directories, it's now quite fast in all phases of operation.]
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20030527105628454