Using EoFF Chat behind a firewall?

i've discovered that, since i've gotten back to campus and thus back on the campus network, i can no longer connect to EoFF's chat. i haven't done anything to get myself banned from it (unless i just don't know it =D?), so i'd assume it's because i'm behind the network's firewall. My question: is there any way for me to connect up to the chat server? The firewall's set up to block certin port connections, preventing music filesharing for the strain that it places on the servers, so i'd guess the problem is simply that connections to port 6669 just happen to be blocked. Could the applet be rerouted to use a port that i know works, such as 80? Or, is there any possible way to add 80 as an alternative connection port?

i don't know a ton about packet transfer online, so maybe this whole post is a blatant example of "a little knowledge is a bad thing." But i also do know that i used a program "tunnel" my way past the firewall using the browser's HTTP port last year, allowing me to use Kazaa and such at least temporarily - so one can make other connections through that port. And yeah, in the end i guess i could just do that again, but i'd rather avoid it if at all possible.

So, Warrior Gods of the Chat Universe, is there any advice you can give me on my little predicament?

If they've blocked outgoing connections to port 6669, then you're kinda stuck :p If you know of a (linux) machine in your college which does have full access to the internet which you also have a login account on, you could login to that machine using an ssh session and forward a port from there to FFChat, otherwise you're kinda stuck :p Or try downloading a proper chat client instead of using Java (maybe mIRC, although v6.1 is evil), attempt to connect, and copy/paste the error message to here if you get any.

I don't really see why they'd block outward connections to chat ports though, the amount of bandwidth used by chatting is far less than by web browsing :p

You could search google for proxy servers to use, if you trust them, but I wouldn't. Some people run proxy servers that they leave completely free for people to use. Some people use proxy servers to do everything they ever do on the internet, so they're more anonymous. Shady business.

Be careful if you do attempt to use a proxy server, FFChat scans for open proxy ports when you connect and klines (bans) you from connecting if it finds one :p I've klined myself before when I forgot to close a temporary proxy server I was running on my PC and connected once :p

i get a nifty little 'connection timeout' message, which is the ubiquitous message for every blocked connection behind this firewall. i've never been behind any others before, so i don't know if that's standard or not. i'm not too knowlegeable about the IRC world at all, really, so i have no idea if there's any more specific step-by-step log of the connection failure. *cluelessness*

However, this looks to remain fruitless. Guess i'll have to live without FFchat. :D

Firewall = Proxy? I use a proxy to tie together the LAN I'm on now. I use mIRC to connect and it lets you set your proxy. You can set your proxy on java too, just go tools, internet options, connections, LAN Settings, and then Advanced and set socks to what-ever on port what-ever.

A firewall is used to filter traffic and block anything unwanted from getting through; a proxy is a server to allow you to connect to something via another machine and appear to be coming from that other machine - they're different things.