Wireless Broadband and Xbox live

faceman

Ive been have severe trouble with my NAT settings for my 360 since a home network was setup and a firewall installed. Despite the IT dude following all the online guide for portforwarding blah blah, my settings are still strict.

Despite posts on just about every message board on the internet (might be a slight exageration!), no one has been able to solve my problem.

My last hope is to see if the uPnP or something is turned on.

anyway presuming it doesnt work, Im left with no choice but to find another BB solution. The cost of getting a second line in (Im currently with BT) is quite pricey so I was looking at wireless options. Ive read in the past that they aint really an option but i wanted to see if anyone actually uses them?

So basically Im considering:

Irish Broadband - Ripwave
Irish Broadband - Breeze
Any mobile broadband

Are there any other options? Anyone use the above for playing their xbox online?

ntlbell

what router are you using?

post a screen shot of the port forwarding config

faceman

ntlbell wrote: »

what router are you using?

post a screen shot of the port forwarding config

BT Voyager 2110. Its a bit more complicated than that tho, let me explain.

The xbox and my computer is connected to the router wirelessly. A cable runs from that router to a Netgear switch (where the home office computer connects). Also connected to the switch is a SonicWall firewall. The DSL line from the socket does not directly connect to my router.

The IT guy has my router sitting on the DMZ (or its equivalent on the firewall) and the 3 ports as per xbox support (sorry screenshot is at home) for the xbox (UDP, TCP 88 and 3074 etc) are open.

My BT voyager router seems to be bypassed because when i put in the IP address is brings me to a Windows Home service main screen and if I put in the default gateway address (as per network settings on the xbox) it brings me to the sonic wall login screen.

thebman

If it is in the DMZ, it should work. Make sure you have the latest firmware for the router.

It may have been an issue with the router before it was released.

If it is a router from BT, you may not be allowed use updates from the router manufacturers website and may need to get it directly from them. This might be obvious if it is BT branded.

ntlbell

faceman wrote: »

BT Voyager 2110. Its a bit more complicated than that tho, let me explain.

The xbox and my computer is connected to the router wirelessly. A cable runs from that router to a Netgear switch (where the home office computer connects). Also connected to the switch is a SonicWall firewall. The DSL line from the socket does not directly connect to my router.

The IT guy has my router sitting on the DMZ (or its equivalent on the firewall) and the 3 ports as per xbox support (sorry screenshot is at home) for the xbox (UDP, TCP 88 and 3074 etc) are open.

My BT voyager router seems to be bypassed because when i put in the IP address is brings me to a Windows Home service main screen and if I put in the default gateway address (as per network settings on the xbox) it brings me to the sonic wall login screen.

Are open? or are forwarded to the IP of the xbox?

There's no point the ports just been open.

You need to tell the router were to re-direct the traffic...for those ports.

something you could do to test port forwarding.

enable the telnet deamon or ftp server on the laptop port 23/21

reidrect port 21/23 on the router to the ip of the laptop

from an external source like your office or a friends have them telnet to port 23 on your external ip and make sure the router is forwarding correctly

ntlbell

also.

the default gateway should probably be setup to the router also and and the routers gateway the sonicwall

if a packet comes into the router and it foward to the xbox

the xbox will be trying to send nat'd packets tagged by the router back via the sonicwall

this is prob the major fubar in the setup

koHd

Don't go for mobile broadband or Irish Broadband. Or any other through the air broadband company. They're useless for gaming. And barely acceptable for normal internet usage.

But the funny thing is, most people that ever play online with them don't notice its bad. They just lag other people up really REALLY badly. They tend to get host because their upload speeds are a little higher than most telephone line broadband. But this is completely useless because of the amount of packets that get lost through the air. So they are hosting getting everything smooth as. But everybody playing in their game is watching a slideshow.

ntlbell

koHd wrote: »

Don't go for mobile broadband or Irish Broadband. Or any other through the air broadband company. They're useless for gaming. And barely acceptable for normal internet usage.

But the funny thing is, most people that ever play online with them don't notice its bad. They just lag other people up really REALLY badly. They tend to get host because their upload speeds are a little higher than most telephone line broadband. But this is completely useless because of the amount of packets that get lost through the air. So they are hosting getting everything smooth as. But everybody playing in their game is watching a slideshow.

not true at all.

i've been using ibb for years and the latency so to places like jolt is about 20ms with 0 packet loss.

eirco/ntl et all are usually a lot higher.

plus IBB's is asymmetrical so you get very high speed low latency upload

everyone always compliments the connection when i host.

koHd

ntlbell wrote: »

not true at all.

i've been using ibb for years and the latency so to places like jolt is about 20ms with 0 packet loss.

eirco/ntl et all are usually a lot higher.

plus IBB's is asymmetrical so you get very high speed low latency upload

everyone always compliments the connection when i host.

That's really strange because two of my mates had it and I played with them on Xbox Live. Anytime they hosted it was a slideshow. And one of them was in a pro evo league online, which he was booted out from because of so many complaints when he hosted his home matches it was slideshow.

Both of them have since got rid of IBB.

My brother has 3 mobile broadband, and I won't even start about that. Dial up is sometimes a better option.

For that kind of packet loss you're gettin you must be next door to the signal originator heh

ntlbell

koHd wrote: »

That's really strange because two of my mates had it and I played with them on Xbox Live. Anytime they hosted it was a slideshow. And one of them was in a pro evo league online, which he was booted out from because of so many complaints when he hosted his home matches it was slideshow.

Both of them have since got rid of IBB.

My brother has 3 mobile broadband, and I won't even start about that. Dial up is sometimes a better option.

For that kind of packet loss you're gettin you must be next door to the signal originator heh

I guess it depends on the area you're in and the capacity of the local mast.

IBB was fairly hit and miss a few years ago but the last 2-3 years it's been pretty solid/stable/fast/low latency

it costs nothing to get them out for a los test anyway

koHd

ntlbell wrote: »

I guess it depends on the area you're in and the capacity of the local mast.

IBB was fairly hit and miss a few years ago but the last 2-3 years it's been pretty solid/stable/fast/low latency

it costs nothing to get them out for a los test anyway

Yea in fairness this about 2/3 years ago my mates had it. Plus we're in Ballymun which could be a little too far to get gaming quality broadband from IBB.

thebman

ntlbell wrote: »

I guess it depends on the area you're in and the capacity of the local mast.

IBB was fairly hit and miss a few years ago but the last 2-3 years it's been pretty solid/stable/fast/low latency

it costs nothing to get them out for a los test anyway

IBB have been bought by Imagine I think so that is out the window and oversubscription will soon follow.

Had it in Maynooth and service went to hell just before I left the last house.

On Metro now and it is fine for gaming.

The problem is basically if your fixed wireless connection is contended or not. As soon as it starts getting contended especially if it is heavily contended, the ping times go to hell and lag is inevitable.

I have to say, eircom connections are usually worse especially since they started this interleaving nonsense. Your better off with UPC if we are being honest but their support is crap I heard although name one telecoms company with good after sales support!

ntlbell

brim4brim wrote: »

On Metro now and it is fine for gaming.

is metro dsl or fixed wireless?

thebman

ntlbell wrote: »

is metro dsl or fixed wireless?

Its fixed wireless. Get faster ping times on this than I did with IBB which was fine for Xbox Live until it went to hell.

Digiweb aren't all great though, see thread below:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055414656

faceman

Just an update on my scenario. I got some feedback from the xbox forums who said that my network set up is extremely complex and would take the IT dude and an Xbox expert a number of hours to unravel and fix.

So i rang IBB who are giving me a 7 day trial of their 2mb Breeze service and if Im not happy with it i dont have to go with them. Its cheaper than getting a second line for BB to the house.

Furp

Hope it goes well for you Faceman. your home network does sound very complex and it sounds like the port forwarding and upnp would have to be setup at every stage of your network.

On the Wireless BB I just had a Digiweb Metro installed last Wednesday, and so far I am very impressed I have an 8mb connection down with 1mb up but my pings for boards.ie are in the region of 40ms. OF course now I am going through loops with BT trying to cancel my landline BB.

So far I have only had a chance to play a few games of Halo 3 and COD 5 Beta online but these matches have been the most lag free and smooth I have ever experienced with Xbox live compared to my DSL line.

Of course the caveats are that I can literally see the Digiweb mast from my house and I get a very good signal and the Metro product works differently then IBB.

faceman

Thanks Furp! Fingers crossed that my 7 day trial isnt a waste of time!

ntlbell

faceman wrote: »

Just an update on my scenario. I got some feedback from the xbox forums who said that my network set up is extremely complex and would take the IT dude and an Xbox expert a number of hours to unravel and fix.

So i rang IBB who are giving me a 7 day trial of their 2mb Breeze service and if Im not happy with it i dont have to go with them. Its cheaper than getting a second line for BB to the house.

it should take about 2 minutes to fix it's not very complex at all.

it sounds like overkill for the average home/office but it's fairly straight forward

faceman

ntlbell wrote: »

it should take about 2 minutes to fix it's not very complex at all.

it sounds like overkill for the average home/office but it's fairly straight forward

Its a home office set up, hence the complexity!

Ive already offered friends money if they could fix it to no avail unfortunately.

ntlbell

faceman wrote: »

Its a home office set up, hence the complexity!

Ive already offered friends money if they could fix it to no avail unfortunately.

Here's one way that will work.

remove the router from the DMZ

change the mode of the router from gateway to router.

setup allow rules for the xbox live ports on the sonicwall

setup the nat policy to forward the the xbox live ports on the sonicwall

make sure that the gateway of the xbox is set to the IP of the router not the sonicwall..

the gateway of the router should be set to the sonicwall

This will work, and keep your router out of the DMZ it should n't really be there anyway.

try it yourself or give the details to the IT guy

faceman

Thanks ntlbell, i will give it a shot

faceman

Just an update on this story. Despite our efforts, the NAT issue continues to twart me.

However IBB installed a 2mb Breeze connection yesterday. An antenna goes on the roof and fortunately the room im playing in is connected to the chimney stack upstairs.

Had no problems playing any game online last night or hosting either. That includes GOW2 which is giving people atrocious problems at the moment. No one I played with experienced any lag as a result which was good news.

The only thing i have connected to the IBB connection is the xbox via ethernet cable.