best p2p networks/clients for passive mode / behind a router with no port forwarding?

I'm on a University network, so I can't set up port forwarding, and UPnP doesn't work. A lot of P2P networks won't connect at all. Torrents work just fine, and Ares works (but it's usually very slow and I can't download from all users, some files will just never start downloading). I've tried a couple other random clients but I haven't found other ones that work.

Can you fine folks recommend some good ones to try out that work well in passive mode (i.e., behind a NAT and without port forwarding)? I know you can't tell me for sure what will and will not work on my school's network, but right now I'm picking new p2p apps to try pretty much at random. Are there any specific ones that are generally known for working decently well behind a crappy network configuration?

Your best shot is probably Usenet or direct download.

"Passive mode" is FTP terminology as far as I know. What you want here is something that will work when you're not connectable. If torrents work, then you can use that, although it will be harder for you to seed.

As it's been said above, I'd recommend anything that doesn't require uploading (Usenet, file hosters) as then lack of port forwarding won't be a problem. Or you can pay for a VPN service with dedicated IPs, which will make you connectable through the outgoing connection to its server.

Perhaps Frostwire or one of the gnutella network clients that still work? Not really sure on this one. Sort of a question I've been wondering myself. I know torrent/emule usually need port forwarding. Same thing for Soulseek. What is another big network/form of p2p outside of torrent/emule/usenet/DDL?

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Originally Posted by Hiccup

Perhaps Frostwire or one of the gnutella network clients that still work?

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I wouldn't recommend that, Gnutella is full of crap nowadays.

Nearly all P2Ps I've tried have worked behind a NAT firewall - but most do so only marginally. Bittorrent stands out as working exceptionally well when firewalled, especially on large swarms. ED2K might be second-best, but can be hit and miss, since unlike torrent trackers (which almost never ban firewalled peers) it can often be hard finding a ed2k server these days (among the very few non-fake ones still standing) willing to accept a firewalled client, though the KAD serverless network is much more forgiving. Blubster is the only major P2P I know of that does not work behind a firewall at all.

Regarding recommendations, a lot depends on what you want P2P for, as well as how much time and personal involvement you care to put in. Some 'traditional' P2P apps such as Ares, Soulseek and Winmx have a built-in chat client - a feature that can help you find other users with similar interests. Most of the big collectors these days don't share their whole drive with the world, so it helps to go into chatrooms and get aquainted with people. A lot of these P2P networks function more like a collection of chatrooms than a search-and-download service, where it seems a lot of people go mainly just to hang out.

Another choice would be to connect to inter-university P2P networks, since these are not firewalled, offer super-fast speed, and are much less likely to have copyright cops tapping in. Every university (in particular those with student housing) is sure to have DC hubs (most are private) and other LAN P2Ps, where you'll find high-quality, verified, well organized file collections, so you need to ask around.

And for the material that's not available, there's always the "big 3" - Bittorrent, file-hosting sites, and Usenet.

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Or you can pay for a VPN service with dedicated IPs, which will make you connectable through the outgoing connection to its server.

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A dedicated IP address is not necessarily needed, as some proxy/vpn providers (such as P.R.Ivacy.com) support port-forwarding.

Although free trials abound, a P2P-friendly vpn/proxy will generally cost from $6 to $15 per month, about the same price range as an unlimited usenet account. For (pay-per-gig) block accounts, usenet costs a fraction of the price of Ivacy, which is the only block-account VPN I know of.

+1 to Zot.

Im fairly certain there's an inter-student p2p netwrok going on; I visited a Uni in the UK with the same problem [for the sutdents atleast] and they got around it by setting up a DC++ network.

Personally, when I get to uni, I'm buy a yearly VPN account - these start from like $5/m for the most basic.

I also say usenet
However, if you don't feel like learning about it, and you're a member of a good site and you're a student and that's enough ands... getting a seedbox might also be a good alternative. From what I've heard they can be around the same price range as usenet and vpn. The benefit here is that you don't have constant upload going through your university connection.

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Originally Posted by zot

ED2K might be second-best, but can be hit and miss, since unlike torrent trackers (which almost never ban firewalled peers) it can often be hard finding a ed2k server these days (among the very few non-fake ones still standing) willing to accept a firewalled client, though the KAD serverless network is much more forgiving.

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Firewalled/low ID eMule clients put extra pressure on the servers, because of the callbacks. Since other, high ID clients can't connect to them directly, the server must tell the unreachable peer the IP of the high ID one, so that both can connect. This uses extra processing power and bandwidth, and doesn't happen when both peers are connectable.

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A dedicated IP address is not necessarily needed, as some proxy/vpn providers (such as P.R.Ivacy.com) support port-forwarding.

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You're right as usual. :) Either a dedicated IP or port forwarding will do.

J-DYE...is that you???

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Originally Posted by Disme

J-DYE...is that you???

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Then he must have improved his English dramatically.

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Originally Posted by bijoy

Then he must have improved his English dramatically.

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Damn, anyone got a copy? I'd love to be able to read that.

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Originally Posted by anon-sbi

Firewalled/low ID eMule clients put extra pressure on the servers, because of the callbacks. Since other, high ID clients can't connect to them directly, the server must tell the unreachable peer the IP of the high ID one, so that both can connect. This uses extra processing power and bandwidth, and doesn't happen when both peers are connectable.

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Good explanation. Much the same process happens on Bittorrent. However, the servers on Bittorent - in complete contrast to ed2k - never reject firewalled clients. The policy made a lot of sense a decade ago, when most ed2k servers were home computers with a sub-gigahertz processor and a couple hundred megs of ram, and the original ed2k server software was a lot less resource-efficient. It's sad that almost no one operates ed2k servers any more - I remember when there used to be many dozens of servers.

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Originally Posted by zot

It's sad that almost no one operates ed2k servers any more - I remember when there used to be many dozens of servers.

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Yes, that's right. Years back there used to be dozens of good servers you could connect to. Now I can count the non-fake ones with my hands' fingers. Well, at least there's Kad...