I am getting a timeout error while starting my Windows service. I am tring to download an XML file from a remote system which causes a timeout during the service OnStart.

This is the method I am calling from OnStart:

public static StreamReader GetResponseStream()
{
    try
    {
        EventLog.WriteEntry("Epo-Service_Retriver", "Trying ...",
            EventLogEntryType.Information);

        CookieContainer CC = new CookieContainer();

        HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(
            Utils.GetWeeklyPublishedURL());
        request.Proxy = null;
        request.UseDefaultCredentials = true;
        request.KeepAlive = true; //THIS DOES THE TRICK
        request.ProtocolVersion = HttpVersion.Version10; // THIS DOES THE TRICK
        request.CookieContainer = CC;

        WebResponse response = request.GetResponse();
        StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(response.GetResponseStream());

        EventLog.WriteEntry("Epo-Service_Retriver", "Connected to Internet...",
            EventLogEntryType.SuccessAudit);
        return reader;
    }
}

Is there any possibility to avoid this timeout?