well, the donkey network is not about speed, but more about reliability. Once you queue a download, it might take longer than other p2ps, but the file WILL get to your hard drive.
In the beginning, people were saying "the donkey is about patience"
A bit silly I know, but once you get the donkey running, it stops only when it has finished completing its task. It's a great tool, imho, and that's the only p2p I use. (ok, sometimes I use bittorent for those Panther nightly builds

)
My mldonkey has been running for 70 days (24/7) straight now, and never have I waited more than a week to get a file, no matter how rare.