playing poker behind university firewall?

[cornell2005]

i just got internet in my dorm room in the UK, and a whole bunch of programs i usually use wont connect to the internet. the most notable ones are outlook, all poker programs, irc, kazaa and limewire. aim didnt work either, but it has an "auto search for open ports" button that fixed the problem. i cant believe that my univeristy system would close all the ports that these programs need. is this possible? any one else have a similar problem? suggestions? i put an email into the IT department, but no reply yet.

[SamJack]

You can try pokerroom. It may only require port 80 (http) to be used.

It does not require any client install. It is java applet based.

SamJack

[ZManODS]

Same thing with pacific poker. Just go to the website and play the java version.

[cornell2005]

bla. id rather not play at all [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

any other insight? if indeed these ports are closed by my isp, is it a big deal to get them opened for me? is that even possible?

[moondogg]

[ QUOTE ]
bla. id rather not play at all [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

any other insight? if indeed these ports are closed by my isp, is it a big deal to get them opened for me? is that even possible?

[/ QUOTE ]

You're average IT guy is not going to bother with it. It just makes their lives more difficult. They will probably just tell you "we can't do it" or (more honestly) "we won't do it".

They close the specific ports for security reasons, because open ports can be like unlocked doors, and it costs time and $$$ to watch them. It's far easier to just lock the damn things down. Being able to play poker through certain ports may be very important to you, but I guarentee you it's not very important to your ISP.

[cornell2005]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
bla. id rather not play at all [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

any other insight? if indeed these ports are closed by my isp, is it a big deal to get them opened for me? is that even possible?

[/ QUOTE ]

You're average IT guy is not going to bother with it. It just makes their lives more difficult. They will probably just tell you "we can't do it" or (more honestly) "we won't do it".

They close the specific ports for security reasons, because open ports can be like unlocked doors, and it costs time and $$$ to watch them. It's far easier to just lock the damn things down. Being able to play poker through certain ports may be very important to you, but I guarentee you it's not very important to your ISP.

[/ QUOTE ]

i will be mad beyond belief if they dont help me out. i payed 100 pounds for the internet access, and nowhere did it say that all my programs wouldnt be able to connect to the internet. i was also going to pay for alot of my expenses playing poker this semester. blaaa

[TylerD]

Out of interest which University are you talking about? (I work in IT at a British uni).

[moondogg]

[ QUOTE ]
i will be mad beyond belief if they dont help me out. i payed 100 pounds for the internet access, and nowhere did it say that all my programs wouldnt be able to connect to the internet. i was also going to pay for alot of my expenses playing poker this semester. blaaa


[/ QUOTE ]

After reading your original post again, it seems like you're getting the internet connection from your university?

If so, there's a few problems:
1) University networks generally suck. If their IT people were competent, they would have jobs in the real world, rather than putzing around in the fantasy land that is higher-education.

2) They are not driven by profit or customer satisfaction. If they had the capability to understand profitable businesses, they would have real jobs. See number 1.

3) A university network is NOT an ISP. In other words, their network does not exist to provide you with internet access, it exists to network the university. As such, there are going to be a lot of things locked down. Their primary concern is security and stability (which I guarantee you they already have a hard enough time with), and your internet access is an afterthought.

Also, if you're only option for internet access is your university, then they got you in a monopoly. Monopolies don't really care if you're pissed (especially in the UK where you do not have the freedom to bear arms for "protection" against tyranny).

I'll give you this, if they aren't letting Outlook connect out to an SMTP server (like Yahoo), then that's pretty f'ed up.

You probably won't be able to get them to change it, but you should be able to get your money back. However, again, the fact that they work in a university pretty much gauantees that they are idiots, so they may tell you to buzz off.

Edit: No offense TylerD. But that's just my point of view.

[TylerD]

No worries, I was wondering if you'd seen my post. Truth is its only a stop gap so I'm not offended.

[cornell2005]

UCL. hopefully you work there? hah

p.s. i got outlook to work but only for my ucl email. i cant access my at home email from inside this network for some reason