ftp: connect: Connection refused
 

Trying to connect to an ftp server outside of our network. I hopped on a Windows box on a different sub-domain and an ftp transfer worked fine. On this Linux box, any command (ls, send, etc..) once authenticated, returns the following.

Try switching to passive mode as the first command (or use "ftp -p servername").

You are likely behind a firewall/NAT that is causing the data channel to be blocked. The Windows system may be using passive mode by default (assuming it is behind the same firewall/NAT).

Tried passive mode, still not working though

Have you tried

So it was an issue with passive mode. In IE, it worked unless you specified passive. I had tried it before after toggling passive mode and it didn't work. Networking says they didn't make any changes though I'm kinda suspicious. But now it works!

I also did add modprobe ip_conntrack_ftp.