Oh yeh, the Ubisoft servers are known to be so easy to connect to (SH3/SH4 MP anyone?

).
So, what we are looking at here is:
1. Launch game
2. Wait 15 minutes for the damn server to accept you
3. Choose new game/load game
4. Wait 15 minutes
5. Quit the game to tinker with your firewall to get the connection to work
6. Go to step 1.