Okay, last one tonight, I'm off to fly 
Dawn of Aces, since that's where I've got the good connections.  But, I wanted to make a clear comparative post of what I see as the problem.
Both of these were run at the same time, 8:35 PM Eastern, March 9th.
The "
good" connection, from Washington, D.C., to HTC, 
avoiding savvis.net until in Dallas-Ft. Worth:
8  159.atm2-0.xr2.dca8.alter.net (152.63.35.202) us.dc.Washington 75.009 63.002 66.006 
9  288.atm3-0.tr2.dca8.alter.net (146.188.163.94) us.dc.Washington 75.002 63.006 62.003 
10  146.188.138.226 (146.188.138.226) us.il.Springfield 108.006 98.007 97.007 
11  198.atm7-0.xr2.dfw4.alter.net (146.188.240.69) us.tx.DFW 108.003 99.005 98.006 
12  194.atm8-0-0.gw1.dfw1.alter.net (146.188.240.37) us.tx.DFW 107.003 101.000 99.008 
13  savvis-dfw-gw.customer.alter.net (157.130.128.54) us.tx.DFW 104.004 100.006 101.000 
14  applink-1.usdlls.savvis.net (216.90.2.66) us.mo.Saint_Louis 113.009 106.009 104.009 
15  beta.hitechcreations.com (216.91.192.19) us.tx.Grapevine 107.003 104.000 106.004
The "
bad" connection, also from Washington, D.C., to HTC but 
using savvis.net out of New York, resulting in poor connections to Dallas:
Host Name                                    IP Address            Hop    Ping Time   Ping Avg   % Loss    Pkts r/s   Ping best/worst
poet5-0-0.core1.dcb.dc.rcn.net               207.172.19.202        6      119ms       122ms      0%        25 / 25    103ms / 210ms
pos1-1-0.border1.tcob.va.rcn.net             207.172.19.249        7      109ms       115ms      0%        25 / 25    100ms / 173ms
ge3-0-0.core1.tco.va.rcn.net                 207.172.19.213        8      112ms       117ms      0%        25 / 25    104ms / 262ms
fe1-0-0.border2.tco.va.rcn.net               207.172.9.222         9      112ms       114ms      0%        25 / 25    95ms / 155ms
serial2-0-4.hsa1.wdc1.Level3.net             209.244.200.5         10     125ms       112ms      0%        25 / 25    95ms / 132ms
core1.NewYork1.Level3.net                    209.244.2.19          11     104ms       117ms      0%        25 / 25    96ms / 148ms
level3-1.CR-1.usnycm.savvis.net              209.83.160.25         12     119ms       113ms      0%        25 / 25    103ms / 132ms
atm9-0-030.CR-1.usdlls.savvis.net            209.83.222.30         13     716ms       729ms      12%       22 / 25    707ms / 775ms
applink-1.usdlls.savvis.net                  216.90.2.66           14     835ms       745ms      16%       21 / 25    712ms / 835ms
beta.hitechcreations.com                     216.91.192.19         15     743ms       748ms      12%       22 / 25    717ms / 793ms