This is with regards to an email exchange that took place few days back on the or-talk mailing list. The anonymous client connects to the hidden service quite intermittently . However it does sometimes connects (say in 1 in 20 chances). The client and server are properly configured using default configuration for the client and configuration for the server which indicates the appropriate directory where the server stores the appropriate files and the appropriate hidden service port number where service requests are to be directed. I am sure of it since I the client works fine otherwise (when not connecting anonymously to a non-anonymous service) and so does the server (when being used as a client). Only in some instances is the client able to communicate with the hidden service (as mentioned earlier). This is what Roger Dingledine has to say regarding the issue : "I think there's a real bug here. I've been playing with it on and off. I think that when Tor has a rendezvous circuit that it thinks it should like, and suddenly changes its mind, then it discards that circuit and starts working on a new one (which is good), but at the same time it closes the socks stream (which is bad). Fixing that bug, if it turns out to actually be a bug, would mean that hidden services are dirt slow when making the initial connection (until we make Tor itself faster at least), but they're not as flaky as they currently appear. --Roger " I can send the notices.log and debug.log files from both the client and the hidden service to you as and when needed . They are too big to fit in here . Let me know if it is needed , and I can send to you those files to appropriate email ids where you would like them . Thanks Sambuddho