ports fetch timeout

[Sys Admin]

I've been trying to install a bunch of packages on a freshly built
7.0-REL machine.  The ports "make install" command has been
consistently failing to download files from ftp servers on Internet.
I can however ftp to the servers and "get" the files manually into
/usr/ports/distfiles directory, and then the port installation is able
to continue just fine.

I have no firewall on my network and as seen above, am able to FTP
files down using the command-line "ftp" client.

Is there any "fetch" related setting that's preventing the downloads?
Or are there any environment variables to be configured for this to
work?  Any config for the ports sub-system?

Thanks
Ashant