dead? afaik it is NOT dead and still resolves to a valid address. On the other hand, I seem to remember N900 had problems with supl.google.com after the certificate problem was fixed for supl.nokia.com ... anyway, stopped using supl.google after supl.nokia started working again
as for the quick fixes on yours ... likely the result of ACWP and other variables (ephemeris data?). Take that N900 a long distance away, and not have a working SIM card ... and you'll probably be waiting for a fix for a long time too
supl.nokia.com still gives me near-instant fixes. i am on CSSU-T however, although I believe the certificate fix was incorporated in Stable as well