[mthaler]

I just switched from DSL to cablemodem (I am already starting to regret it) because the 1.5mb cable service was cheaper WITH cable TV than DSL 1.5mb without. (About $109 with all the premium stations).
Unfortunately I discovered that they seem to block most incoming ports.
I would like to be able to use either PCanywhere or VNC to get to my machine while on the road.
I have tried but those ports are blocked. Does anybody know what ports they leave open on that network?
BTW, I am using Charter.net in Central Wisconsin.

Thanks for any info

BTW, I had this all working beautifully before with the DSL :-(

[adamvjackson]

All I know that is blocked on charter's non-commercial accounts is 25, 80, 110. Are you sure you have configured your gateway/router correctly to forward the VNC port (~5000 series by default)?

[DS3Circuit]

http://www.http-tunnel.com/HT_Products_HTTPTunnelClient.asp

Cause we all know port 80 is open ... well 96% percent of the time

[DS3Circuit]

http tunnel was used in our "educational environment" to TRY to circumvent our packeteer box.

[mthaler]

OK, it appears that maybe when I started out, Charter was blocking more ports because of the slammer worm this weekend.

It appears now that they block servers on 21, 80, and POP & SMTP.

I have no problem getting VNC to work with ports 5800 & 5900.

Howerver, I have not been able to get an FTP server to work. I have been testing this by using PCanywhere to go to one of the sites I have to help, then trying to FTP back.
On my end I am running FTP_Server_U.
I have tried setting it to port 2100 and I opened up 2099 and 2100 on the router as I understand (or hope I understand) that FTP uses the main port and that port -1.
At any rate, using internet explorer, I do an
ftp://my.ip.address:2100 and it lets me start to log in, but then it stalls when it tries to scan the directories.
Any clues as to what is going on there?

Thanks

[mthaler]

I have been pounding on this ALL day, and no joy whatsoever.
The GOAL is to be able to download files when I am out in the field.
Things I CAN get going:
http if i use a high port, like 5700
vnc using it's standard ports
What I can't get going is an FTP server.
I have tried several servers including FTP serv-u and WS_FTP's server.
I have done port forwarding etc.
Charter clearly locks the use of port's 20&21.

I am now thinking that maybe I should just use some alternative program, not FTP, but it would be nice if I did not have to install a client program which was the beauty of FTP.

Any suggestions for accessing files (VNC does not) remotely on a non-standard port?

Thanks

[mthaler]

Just another followup:
I managed to do a work-around that I don't love, which is using the HTTP protocol on an alternate port, with security. It is a pain to administer, if I want to add other users (just a couple, but still).
I have continued to try to get the ftp to work.
I know it works fine from within my subnet, but from outside in the real world, no joy.
I have tried the PASV mode that does not work.
I have tried the command line mode, as with the PASV, I can log in, but the minute I try to get a directory, it hangs.
As I understand it, the port you assign to the FTP server (like 21) is the communication port, and the (port-1) (like 20) is the data port. It would appear that the data port is blocked no matter what I am doing.
Is it possible that Charter can detect any FTP data even on alternate ports?

To repeat, I am using ALTERNATE ports for FTP since 20-21 are blocked.
I have tried 210, 2100, 5702 just for grins. All work the same way, login is fine, but no directories. And, I always open two ports in my router, the main one, and the main one minus 1.

[adamvjackson]

Possible, if they're sniffing for the ftp protocol... To be honest, all I've ever done on their network is set up an FTP on 20/21 and I was able to connect just fine within the subnet. I suspect that Charter blocks these ports as most home users do not need these or would be exploited by virui. Upgrading to a commercial account is probably your best bet.

If my method of reasoning is correct, about home users having open FTP ports being exploted by virui, trojans, etc. then it would stand to reason that someone who ordered a commercial account would be more aware of security issues than a home user.

Food for thought...

[adamvjackson]

A quick search at groups.google.com turned up many Charter customers having problems with FTP/HTTP servers... As I suspected, these ports have been blocked for non-commercial accounts.

[mthaler]

Alec,
I can connect and download to my heart's content, when I am doing it in the local subnet. The problem is when I try it from out in the "real world" of the rest of the internet.
From the Internet, PASV gets through to CONNECT, but not for downloading. I can't list a directory. And BTW, I am NOT using IIS's FTP, I am using a third party FTP program that worked fine when I did not have CHARTER.

[drivere350]

Go to http://dslwebserver.com/main/fr_index.ht...st-headers.html you can get around the block by setting up your DNS at zoneedit.com to forward to whatever port you want.

[Silver-Dagger]

I have Charter in central Missouri and I have not had any problem with anything. I have ran a small personal http, ftp, mail, and even VNC.

[imconfused]

i have a problem with charter, and im not sure if this relates to ports. my problem started a couple months ago when i got a new computer. i got my new computer and set up my internet connection through a wireless router.. DLINK 624. I then discovered that I could not host games in Warcraft III. However, on my original computer, which was hardwired to the router, I was able to host games. Seeing that I could not host games on my new computer, I jumped to configure my router. It took a while, but with help from DLINK i got it sorted out. Then, a strange thing happened. I can join and host games for everyone that I have ever tried on battle.net, except my best friend. This really sucked, because we used to play a lot of games before I got my new computer. We have both been trying to reconfigure our routers, set static ips (we have tried everything) for about a month and half. I've called my router company, blizzard entertainment, and my ISP about 100 times. No one knows what to do. My friend and I have the same ISP, charter. However, charter said that the fact that we had the same ISP, in the same town, would not make a difference. People have told us to try 'pinging' each other's ips, but we get a 'request timed out.'
anyway, it's a strange situation because we can both join/host everyone else's AT games. neither of us can host/join each others AT games. it's really aggrivating because no one knows what to tell us.
charter says that they don't block internal traffic, they don't block port 6112, so basically they say that the problem is not their fault. we know its not our routers, we know its not the actual game server, so we are almost positive it is charter. however, we have no idea how to fix it, and neither does charter.
does anyone have any suggestions?
thanks

[Spamn]

I have a similar problem. I'm on Charter in Missouri and they have a strict policy against running websites.

Well, I ran my IIS server and they shut my modem down. I have no idea how to get it back up. I know they sent some kind of signal to my modem (or somehow blocked the MAC address) because I hooked up another cable modem here and it worked. I have a Motorola Surfboard and ever since they shut me down for running my website, the powerlight just flashes on and off while all of the other lights stay constant. I've tried to restart the modem numerous times. No luck.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Sam

**edit** I forgot to mention that this happened before and somehow it fixed itself overnight. This time it's been down for a long time.

[adamvjackson]

Yep, Alec is right-on-the-money with this one. I visited the local Charter NOC sometime last year, and I can ASSURE you that all upstream traffic is monitored, and all P2P traffic IS being logged.

Be careful with your TOS/AUP!

[jmmijo]

So I take it this is not something that is exclusive to Charter, I would Imagine that Comcast does something similar ?!?

Interesting in that I initially was on ATTBI in my area until they sold out to Comcast. I wonder if ATTBI just never cared about this or what ?!?

[Spamn]

Like it says in my **edit**, this happened before and it came back on overnight. How did it fix itself? Maybe they were just warning me or something..

[Spamn]

So there is no way to fix this problem myself. I have to call charter and have them send a signal to my modem?