TPG have 400,000 customers. They aint small, top 5 at least.
+1
Peerguardian is a great method, but it should also be used in conjunction with private trackers (eg, Demonoid.com, PreToMe.net, etc, and no im not giving out invites, they cost me a fortune in PreToMe lol)
I have been inclined to use proxies, however, the free one's aren't decent enough to reach decent speeds. A paid proxy is the only answer here.
I'll be migrating to Usenet over the next month or two. Internode gives free access to Usenet for all its customers. Internode ftw.
EDIT: With Peerguardian, make sure you use GOOD and up to date IP filtering lists.