Try again. tnftp, tcpclient and nc are my friends. And, increasingly, q's builtin TCP client (alas, closed source).

There was a short time long ago when I used wget. That period did not last very long.

curl is overloaded with "features" I will never use.

My idea of a good TCP client is a small, relatively simple program with few options that compiles quickly and easily.

FreeBSD's fetch utility is another one that comes to mind.

Perhaps counterintuitively, I feel I get more "control" from the simpler TCP clients with fewer options (that I complile myself) than I ever did from the more popular programs with too many options and unneeded libraries linked in by default. But that's just my opinion, nothing more. I would not "recommend" the programs I use to anyone. It is just my personal preference to use them.