Like many I was unable to link my Steam account for GOG Connect to work. I thought it was network traffic causing a timeout to occur.

With only hours to go, and with no reply from GOG on the issue, I investigated and found that the address it's trying to connect to cannot be reached from my location. Here's my tracert:

Traceroute has started…

traceroute: Warning: steam-sync.gog.com has multiple addresses; using 193.59.178.230
traceroute to steam-sync.gog.com (193.59.178.230), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets
1 10.0.2.1 (10.0.2.1) 0.965 ms 0.799 ms 0.707 ms
2 10.1.2.1 (10.1.2.1) 1.375 ms 1.422 ms 1.621 ms
3 ***.***.***.*** (***.***.***.***) 13.217 ms 13.493 ms 13.378 ms
4 10.1.21.43 (10.1.21.43) 20.438 ms 12.925 ms 13.697 ms
5 203-174-185-145.syd.static-ipl.aapt.com.au (203.174.185.145) 23.977 ms 28.226 ms 14.949 ms
6 po41.sglebbrdr11.aapt.net.au (202.10.14.198) 13.841 ms 13.625 ms 13.517 ms
7 syd-gls-har-wgw1-be-30.tpgi.com.au (203.219.107.197) 13.824 ms 13.283 ms 14.353 ms
8 203-221-3-67.tpgi.com.au (203.221.3.67) 13.405 ms 15.419 ms 15.968 ms
9 10ge4-11.core1.sjc1.he.net (72.52.101.37) 183.442 ms 194.799 ms 175.926 ms
10 10ge7-2.core1.sjc2.he.net (72.52.92.118) 174.710 ms 173.971 ms 174.434 ms
11 100ge1-2.core1.nyc4.he.net (184.105.81.214) 239.346 ms 231.518 ms 237.520 ms
12 100ge11-1.core1.par2.he.net (184.105.81.78) 303.779 ms 303.507 ms 304.378 ms
13 100ge5-2.core1.fra1.he.net (72.52.92.14) 310.399 ms 314.042 ms 323.800 ms
14 10ge1-6.core1.waw1.he.net (184.105.213.146) 337.856 ms 334.452 ms 333.909 ms
15 * * *
16 * * *
17 * * *

And so on for 64 hops without being able to connect.

I then used a VPN to connect to the US, and ran a tracert again and it connected within 14 hops. I loaded GOG and managed to link and sync my Steam account straight away.

Good luck anyone else, perhaps try using a VPN.

In time no doubt the DNS settings will propagate to Australia but for now it's not reachable. I've seen this before with new server which can take a week for DNS caches to refresh correctly.

OMG thanks I was just about to give up. I was suspecting it was an Aussie problem (but some Aussies seemed to get it work just fine). Once I Googled myself onto a free VPN I was able to instantly connect my GOG & Steam accounts. No more timed out message! Phew. That counting clock was starting to make me anxious.

For anyone who wants a quick free VPN without downloading anything just Google VPNME. It's a simple website, just click "read here" for directions. You just need to make a new internet connection following their directions. You'll want to try the FR Server first (that was the only one I could get to work).

This is what I did on Windows 7:

Control Panel> Network & Sharing Center> Set up a new connection or network> Connect to a workplace> Use my Internet connection (VPN)

Internet address: fr3.vpnme.me
Destination name: VPNMe PPTP

Username & password for the FR Server shown on the VPNME website (the password changes frequently for security reasons).

It will try to connect, just press skip (it can't connect until you configure it).
Network & Sharing Center> Change adapter settings.
Right click CPNME PPTP & select Properties, then Security & change Type of VPN to Point to Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP).
Then right click & connect using the current username & password.