diff --git a/gc_bba_test/source/netboot.c b/gc_bba_test/source/netboot.c
index 0c4bd92..804db6c 100644
--- a/gc_bba_test/source/netboot.c
+++ b/gc_bba_test/source/netboot.c
@@ -182,7 +182,17 @@ static int send_ack(u16 seq)
 	 * out (TI only means TXFrameDrain handed it to the W5100), and if it did
 	 * not, the host's retransmit covers it.  Blocking longer here would only
 	 * slow the common case to protect against the rare one. */
-	for (i = 0; i < 200; i++) {
+	/* Poll a FEW times, not 200.  Each bba_r8 is a whole EXI transaction
+	 * (lock, select, header, gap, read, deselect, unlock) at tens of
+	 * microseconds, so 200 of them is ~12 ms burned on the ONE path the host
+	 * is waiting on -- and it only burns them when TI is slow, which is
+	 * exactly when the host is closest to timing out.  That turns a slow
+	 * transmit into a missed deadline instead of just a slow one.
+	 *
+	 * TI is not needed for correctness here: the host retransmits anything
+	 * it does not get an ACK for, and the GC re-ACKs duplicates.  A handful
+	 * of polls is enough to count genuine failures in txto. */
+	for (i = 0; i < 8; i++) {
 		ir = bba_r8(REG_IR);
 		if (ir >= 0 && (ir & IR_TI))
 			return 0;
diff --git a/scripts/send-dol.py b/scripts/send-dol.py
index 22e31a2..bce698e 100755
--- a/scripts/send-dol.py
+++ b/scripts/send-dol.py
@@ -58,10 +58,11 @@ def main():
     ap = argparse.ArgumentParser()
     ap.add_argument("iface", help="network interface facing the GameCube")
     ap.add_argument("dol", help=".dol to send")
-    ap.add_argument("--timeout", type=float, default=0.1,
-                    help="per-block ACK timeout in seconds (default 0.1). "
-                         "The round trip is a few ms on a LAN, so 0.5 made "
-                         "every lost ACK cost half a second.")
+    ap.add_argument("--timeout", type=float, default=0.3,
+                    help="per-block ACK timeout in seconds (default 0.3). "
+                         "The GC needs ~20 ms per block and the variance is "
+                         "what matters: at 0.1 roughly a third of blocks "
+                         "overshot and each miss cost a full timeout.")
     ap.add_argument("--retries", type=int, default=20,
                     help="per-block retransmits before giving up (default 20)")
     ap.add_argument("--dest", default="/gc_bba_test.dol",