After the NXE update, browsing the marketplace on the console just seems a bit slower than usual. So one thing to remember is that now with the new update you can now download stuff through the web.

So remember, the URL is
http://marketplace.xbox.com

sign in with your LiveID account and you can browse and select items for your console to download, your console needs to be on and signed in for the download to be sent to the console.

This will NOT help with downloading stuff from different regions.

Who knows.. but basically... the web is a good alternative from browsing on the console.

i think it's called f'ing bad connection!