I've had that happen once or twice, but out of 50 games, it's rare.  Number of connection drops is a bit higher.

Funny you should say that; my drop-out rates have improved quite a lot. However client crashes have become more frequent. Three crashes in the last 24 hours.

Really working that abandon count.

When you say crash, do you mean that the game gives you a message box that says you have lost the connection to the host (or similar)? The game does not close, but you return to the lobby.

By crash I mean the client terminates itself completely without warning.

Thanks for your comprehensive response, it is very helpful.

I'm on a shared network so I might be running into times when a housemate has active torrents, which isn't often.
I will disable in-game sounds and see if that contributes to a solution.

[EDIT] Some time later...
I disabled the sounds and had a flawless game;
http://www.planetmule.com/hi-score-game/game?game_id=22422
However the next game I participated in shortly after, the game crashed early ins;
http://www.planetmule.com/hi-score-game/game?game_id=22429

If your D-Link router is anything like mine, (DSL-G604T) it may have a tendency to drop user introduced settings.

http://www.planetmule.com/hi-score-players/user?user_id=14158

Over the last couple of weeks of play I have experienced quite a lot of game drop-outs and client crashes on my end. The consequences being my high game abandonment stat (booya!) and bots fagging up the games of gentlemen.

The most recent drop-outs occurring are;
http://www.planetmule.com/hi-score-game/game?game_id=22343
[EDIT: and]
http://www.planetmule.com/hi-score-game/game?game_id=22329
http://www.planetmule.com/hi-score-game/game?game_id=22317

Typically occurs during the development phase.
Don't have much to add other than by golly it sure is annoying!