Log on glitch??

[SaucyWench]

ok...for the entire time I've been playing (about six months now) I've had a horrible time logging on. I put in my user name and password, and get a "account could not be verified" error message. If I keep trying sometimes I eventually get in, sometimes I don't.

I've contacted tech support a billion times, they keep telling me to allow POTC through my firewall. I've done that.

I've also:

rebooted a million times
changed my password
turned off my router's firewall completely
tried turning off my Vista firewall (it did not help btw)
uninstalled and reinstalled the game

and every other combination I can think of.

It is SOOOOOOOOOO frustrating...have any other ideas? I'm at the end of my rope! (or plank, or what have you )