Well, I suppose it may be a common issue. but I am not an advanced user and was doing fine with the 30 kilobytes I was getting in Windows with msn and aim for what I was using it for, so I just assumed something wasn't right because I only seem to get 3 or 4 with kopete.
Would like to have everything working properly just on principal.
When I am an advanced user I'll move on to other things, but that raises questions in my mind as to whether or not they will be compatible with the programs my acquaintances are using.