How to improve the Performance of FtpWebRequest?

Question

I have an application written in .NET 3.5 that uses FTP to upload/download files from a server. The app works fine but there are performance issues:

1. It take

Answer 1

I'd recommend switching to rsync.
Pros :
Optimised for reducing transfer time.
Supports SSH for secure transfer
Uses TCP so makes your IT dept/firewall guys happier

Cons:
No native .NET support
Geared towards linux server installations - though there are decent windows ports like DeltaCopy

Overall though it's a much better choice than FTP