Fellow Geocities-based Bloggers, here’s the fix for your FTP woes: Simply check the “No File Rename” option in your blog settings. You’ll be able to upload without a hitch. However, there’s a slightly higher risk that the transfer will abort mid-upload and mess up the actual blog file. It works this way:

Normally, Blogger first uploads your blog as [ID#].html, then renames it on the server to whatever your blog filename is. That way, if the file gets corrupted while uploading, your actual blog file stays undamaged. With the option to turn off file-renaming, Blogger will FTP it straight to the blog filename. I think the risk is reasonably low if your network connection is clear.

But I’m still fishing around for a better host. Maybe something ad-free, with server-side includes, lots of bandwidth, and free domain hosting.