Mario Striker & NTL broadband

bozman

Apologies if this has been asked before but does anyone else have a problem playing online matches using NTL broadband? I get a 4 star connection but within a few seconds of the match starting, it's disconnected.

NotInventedHere

I'm having the same problem. What type of Router are you using.

bozman

I'm using a buffalo airstation (G54S). I notice that one of my neighbours appears to have had a netgear router installed today and I can connect to it from my laptop so I can test that out over the next couple of days to rule out the router - unfortunately they appear to be also using NTL so I can't test with a different connection. There's another very weak signal that appears every now and again so if I can catch it, I'll test with that too.

The_B_Man

i get this too on NTL with a belkin wireless router.

event

what are your ping times like?

bozman

From my laptop to boards.ie is between 20-50ms - no idea what the round trip time is from my wii but I can't imagine it would be any different. I don't generally see any dropped packets.

evad_lhorg

yea I got this on ntl too. sold the game today though so dont care anymore:p

tuxy

Poor game imo, havn't tried it online.
Maybe it has something to do with port forwarding?

bozman

Maybe to broaden this out a bit - does anyone get a similar problem with other types of broadband connection?

syphax

I'm on NTL broadband, and I get exactly the same problem. I was assuming it was something to do with my wireless router, and was going to buy the Wii LAN adapter, but I guess that wouldn't help if it's an NTL issue. It's weird, because I've never had any trouble with DS games.

If anyone discovers a fix, I'd love to hear about it. I really want to play this online.

Edit: forgot to say, I'm using an SMC Barricade router, if that makes a difference.

sprinkles

Same here with NTL. DS works fine, getting a 4 star connection but dumps me out withing seconds of starting the game. Was really looking forward to playing online too..

The_B_Man

weird thing is, if i get a 3 star connection, it works fine.

bozman

The_B_Man wrote:

weird thing is, if i get a 3 star connection, it works fine.

That sounds a bit stange - was that a one off? (before I try burying my antenna in an effort to get 3 stars )

norrie rugger

nope i got 4 and 3 starts yesterday and i could not even start a game before dropping the connection

WellyJ

bozman wrote:

I'm using a buffalo airstation (G54S). I notice that one of my neighbours appears to have had a netgear router installed today and I can connect to it from my laptop so I can test that out over the next couple of days to rule out the router - unfortunately they appear to be also using NTL so I can't test with a different connection. There's another very weak signal that appears every now and again so if I can catch it, I'll test with that too.

Not a good idea bozman,

Its actually highly illegal to steal people's wireless signals even if they are stupid enough not to use some kind of security.

More power to you if you do it and get away with it, but just a heads up

The_B_Man

bozman wrote:

That sounds a bit stange - was that a one off? (before I try burying my antenna in an effort to get 3 stars )

nope, fairly regular!

bozman

WellyJ wrote:

Its actually highly illegal to steal people's wireless signals even if they are stupid enough not to use some kind of security.

More power to you if you do it and get away with it, but just a heads up

hmm, not so sure whether thats true - if their wireless signal is careless enough to trespass on my property.... But thanks for the warning and even if it's not illegal, it is highly unethical. It wasn't something I was planning to do on an ongoing basis - I was merely going to test whether I saw the same problem on their connection as on my own but I've checked it out and they're using NTL too so that won't help anyway.

norrie rugger

bozman wrote:

hmm, not so sure whether thats true - if their wireless signal is careless enough to trespass on my property.... But thanks for the warning and even if it's not illegal, it is highly unethical. It wasn't something I was planning to do on an ongoing basis - I was merely going to test whether I saw the same problem on their connection as on my own but I've checked it out and they're using NTL too so that won't help anyway.

Nope it is illegal as far as i know

nialldinho

Are you guys all just connecting directly to your wireless broadband signal? Or are you using the Nintendo Wi-fi thing?

I'm getting wireless NTL on Saturday and I'm pretty disappointed to hear that there are problems with it. I have the Nintendo Wi-fi thing too though so am curious if that will make a difference.

sprinkles

I'm just using the wifi router I got with NTL - netgear something or other. Works fine for my DS and I even dusted off my PSP once to see if it worked and it did. Strage that it won't work with the game though, I can browse the net on the wii no problem it's just mario strikers. Hope it's not a problem that'll continue with other games.

bozman

I'm using the Wii's built in wireless functionality, connecting to a wireless router (that I bought myself) which is hanging off the NTL supplied modem. No problems browsing, updating software, downloading news/weather etc... and I get a 4 star connection in mario strikers. It allows me to setup my team etc... for a match and starts the game but within a couple of seconds gives a disconnection message. I can't think of any reason why norrie rugger gets it working with 3 stars - I wondered whether it was something to do with my built in firewall or similar - I had considered switching off all of the extra functionality/encryption settings etc... on my router as a test but haven't got around to it yet.

Ste.phen

I'm having the same problem, everything works fine on the internet connection, ad indeed everything else on the wii, VC downloads, etc, it's all fine except mario strikers

It's definitely an NTL problem IMHO

nialldinho

Just got my NTL broadband set up and the same thing has happened when I try to play a match.

Has anybody contacted NTL about this yet? Not that they are likely to know what to do!

bozman

nialldinho wrote:

Has anybody contacted NTL about this yet? Not that they are likely to know what to do!

I certainly haven't - I'm not sure they'd be able to help with the information we have at the moment - a call saying "I can't play an online match in Wii Mario Strikers" is unlikely to be enough for the highly technical staff that will answer the phone :rolleyes:

Does anyone know of a site which gives a technical description of how it works under the covers - info such as port numbers, udp/tcp, etc.... might help us to figure out whats wrong.

norrie rugger

bozman wrote:

I certainly haven't - I'm not sure they'd be able to help with the information we have at the moment - a call saying "I can't play an online match in Wii Mario Strikers" is unlikely to be enough for the highly technical staff that will answer the phone :rolleyes:

Does anyone know of a site which gives a technical description of how it works under the covers - info such as port numbers, udp/tcp, etc.... might help us to figure out whats wrong.

honestly,
that is their job to find out

bozman

norrie rugger wrote:

honestly, that is their job to find out

I agree but they might not - it's not as if broadband isn't working for us so even if they take the details, it will probably get a very low focus. It would be useful to be able to give them more information about how the online portion of the game works. That way, they could bring the details to 2nd line support and we may get an answer.

norrie rugger

bozman wrote:

I agree but they might not - it's not as if broadband isn't working for us so even if they take the details, it will probably get a very low focus. It would be useful to be able to give them more information about how the online portion of the game works. That way, they could bring the details to 2nd line support and we may get an answer.

well if i can not play Wii online games through NTL then i will move provider.
i'll tell them that it is as simple as that and see their actions

You Suck!

Funny that I found this thread, but although unrelated I too have been having problems getting Armed assault to play on ntl. I have tried two routers, and am absolutely confident with the second routers nat. It would appear that NTL are port blocking without telling its customers. The ports on arma are 2302-2305. I would suspect that mario striker use's ports that are higher in range and less used. It may be worth bringing this issue up in the broadband forum, with a view to contacting ntl to find out what the actuallity is.

You Suck!

Raised the issue in broadband to see if we can get some light on the subject. Thread here: http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055129119

bozman

Found some details on nintendo site that outlines what TCP ports should be open outbound if you've got a firewall on your router. Also, all UDP ports need to be open. They have a network test tool that should prove that UDP is allowed - I went to install it but my laptop security settings are preventing me from allowing unsigned activex controls so I haven't tried it yet - need to play about with it to get past the error.

If anyone else wants to look into this, here's the link

http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wii/en_na/onlineFirewall.jsp

and to the network test tool (needs to be used on XP & IE)

http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wii/en_na/NetworkTest.jsp

The_B_Man

anyone notice any improvement after the system update?

nialldinho

The_B_Man wrote:

anyone notice any improvement after the system update?

not really. have just tried three times and got 4 star connections each time.

the first time i got an opponent and then the connection was lost.

the second time i picked my team and was waiting for luigi to drop from the sky when the connection was lost.

the third time i got a match started and after about 3 seconds the connection was lost.

maybe if i keep trying i'll eventually get a full match!

KJF

Here's a crazy idea, have you lads ever thought of maybe contacting NTL and telling them that you're having problems. I'm sure if enough of you do it then they might do something about it.

Less chat more action I say.

knuth

If broadband == NTL then latency == 100%

nialldinho

KJF wrote:

Here's a crazy idea, have you lads ever thought of maybe contacting NTL and telling them that you're having problems. I'm sure if enough of you do it then they might do something about it.

Less chat more action I say.

Yeah, I emailed customer support the other day. They have passed it on to the broadband team.

norrie rugger

contacted them myself,

they phoned back a few times but i have gotten no action yet.
although the techy was thinking along the lines of ports being blocked somehow

The_B_Man

Do NTL block ports? last i heard, they didnt. im guessin its more to do with the latency of cable internet.

I havent been over to the Broadband forum in a good while. anyone know if all the UPC stuff got sorted, with the routing thru holland and high pings etc? i'd say the mario disconnections are mostly likely a result of this, rather than port blockage, especially since sometimes you can get a full game!

Arciphel

i haven't tried playing mario:strikers online, BUT i have the exact sampe problem when playing Fifa 07 (xbox version) on my 360. at first i thought it was just cheating scum who were disconnecting every time the game started, but maybe there is more to this after all ... bloody NTL! :mad:

illumin

Same problem here. I thought it was my router and spent all day flashing it, turning off firewall, dmz'ing port forwarding and it turns out i was wasting my time

dave--d

same here, surfing / updating work... it is so frustrating just kick off and it drop's out and it takes so long setting up to try again only be be kicked off.

i rang ntl about this but because i use a belkin wirless router they told me they didn't support it and was nothing they could do

will be really pissed off if this happens to all wii online games

Might it be something to do with this?

http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wii/en_na/onlineFirewall.jsp

sprinkles

would that not also block you logging on rather than just throwing you out of the game once it' started?

the above link

I don't see how it would. It appears to me as if it's a case of the network having a firewall(s) and removing/temporarily disabling them might allow for online gaming as a certain amount of unrestricted access is needed to your Wii.

See below, especially the bits in bold....

the above link wrote:

Allowing TCP and UDP Traffic:
The Wii console may require unrestricted access to several sites across various ports and protocols to function correctly. These addresses and ports vary, and may change in the future without notice. Many software firewalls restrict outbound access. Only if your firewall blocks outbound traffic do you need to enable this traffic:

TCP:
Allow traffic to all destinations on ports: 28910, 29900, 29901, 29920, 80, and 443


UDP:
Allow all traffic to all destinations. (Necessary for peer-to-peer connections and game play). Our Network Test tool can be used from a computer behind your firewall to test if outbound UDP is allowed.

However, they have a bit of a disclaimer towards the end, saying

Please note that by allowing the traffic to the destinations listed above, you are essentially removing a significant amount of firewall protection for your network.

Would this mean that one would have to re-configure their network settings every time they switch between using their Wii and using a P.C./Laptop? Or am i way off the mark here?

P.S. Has anybody out there got NTL broadband and Mario Strikers and who plays all the time without losing the connection? Is this solely confined to NTL? If so, would the above firewall info. mean nothing and would i be leaving my laptop open to attack? I'm not the most technically minded person in the world so can anybody out there make sense of this?

bozman

Deleted User wrote:

Would this mean that one would have to re-configure their network settings every time they switch between using their Wii and using a P.C./Laptop? Or am i way off the mark here?

No, you wouldn't need to re-configure when moving between one and the other. The settings they suggest are just loosening the settings on the firewall so they wouldn't stop your laptop from working (presuming it's working at the moment)

Would i be leaving my laptop open to attack? I'm not the most technically minded person in the world so can anybody out there make sense of this?

If you have a desktop firewall on your laptop, you should be fine as in that case, the router firewall is just an added layer of protection.

I haven't had time to play with my router for a few weeks so haven't tested this out but I would expect that if it was firewall related, then we'd have had a lot more input from non-NTL users on this thread

There was a thread on the Broadband forum about changing settings on the NTL modem - that was another thing I was going to try when I got some time http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055121809

nialldinho

I don't suppose anyone has resolved this problem, have they?

I've managed to play bits of games but the connection always gets dropped.

I've been on to NTL a couple of times but have had no reply other than they have passed it on to the broadband team.

norrie rugger

nialldinho wrote:

I don't suppose anyone has resolved this problem, have they?

I've managed to play bits of games but the connection always gets dropped.

I've been on to NTL a couple of times but have had no reply other than they have passed it on to the broadband team.

Same here.
I am going to inform them that this is a service failure and I am moving to a competitor.

I wonder, if enough of us quote this as a reason will they do anything?

nialldinho

Sorry to dig this old thread up but four months after NTL passed my query on to their broadband team I thought I'd give them another shot and forwarded my last email to them again.

Surprisingly they rang me back and told me that the problem is most likely caused by the fact that they use dynamic network and nintendo might be using static IPs to log users (or something). He said to check with Nintendo about setting up a static IP for the Wii.

I have just done this by using the manual settings on the Wii. I also set it up for port forwarding on the router.

It seems to have worked and I have just finished my first full online game of Mario Strikers (in which I got hammered).

This might all be common knowledge by now but just thought I'd share the solution anyway.

bozman

Thanks for the update. Do yo mean you setup a static address on your wii rather than dhcp assigned?

nialldinho

i think so. i set it up manually on the wii's internet settings instead of having it auto-obtain the ip and dns.

i tried playing again last night though and got the 86070 error so i may have been celebrating too soon.

penexpers

nialldinho wrote: »

Surprisingly they rang me back and told me that the problem is most likely caused by the fact that they use dynamic network and nintendo might be using static IPs to log users (or something). He said to check with Nintendo about setting up a static IP for the Wii.

That's crap. I would get in touch with NTL again and ask them to provide a proper answer.