How to connect with Pidgin to Facebook-chat and Google Talk when XMPP port 5222 is blocked?

Question

I have not been able to google this straightforwardly, so here it goes for others.

Many networks have firewalls that block all but the basic ports. I am on one of them but I still want to acces gtalk and facebook-chat via an desktop IM application, in my case Pidgin.

Solution

It turns out this is thought for and one can use the common ports (80 for HTTP and 443 for HTTPS), but not all combinations work.

For Pidgin on Ubuntu 12.04, but it would likely work with different wording for other clients such as Miranda, Psi, or Gajim. Go to Accounts>Manage Accounts (or press CTRL+A), pick your Facebook or GTalk account and go to the advanced tab. Fill in as follows:

(For Facebook)

• Connection security: Require encryption
• Connect port: 443
• Connect server: chat.facebook.com

(For Google Talk)

• Connection security: Use old-style SSL
• Connect port: 443
• Connect server: talk.google.com

Leave "Allow plaintext auth [...]" and other fields unfilled ("Show Custom Smileys" is up to you).

Now you should connect just fine.