I need help troubleshooting MSN messenger connectivity problems...

[Canon]

I've been forwarding ports and configuring firewalls for quite a while to do things like FTP servers, HTTP servers whatever but for the life of me I cannot get the voice comm to work.

So far i've had no problem getting file transfers to work, webcams etc. but voice will not work.

So far i've tried turning Zone Alarm off, stopping it from starting up entirely

As for router configuration I have tried:
-forwarding TCP ports 6891-6900
-forwarding TCP/UDP port 6901
-even tried putting my system in the DMZ.
Model number of my router: Linksys BEFW11S4 V3 802.11b Access Point with 4-port switch

I did a port scan over at www.grc.com with all my security stuff disabled (in the DMZ zone, no firewall etc.) and it seems as though there are smatterings of open ports and smatterings of stealth ports which doesn't make sense when all this stuff should be disabled.


How can I even figure out what is causing my problems? (Zone Alarm, even though it's turned off or my router.).

I've tried everything I can think of, searched google, tried the stuff I mentioned but I can't get it working at all. MSN messenger is the only program that has given me a hassle. Yahoo messenger's voice chat and video conference etc. works fine.

 

[MiXdNuTs]

I used to use the voice com feature of MSN to connect to China a whole lot. However, it has not been working for the past few months. I don't think the problem is with your router because I have tried to completely bypass the router and connected the modem directly to the computer: no dice. Video works great, but voice com just doesn't work. I am going to call my ISP and try and find out if the ports are blocked on their end. I was thinking that the problem was with the national firewall around China, but now that you are having problems with it, I think I need to call my ISP.

 

[Canon]

Let me know how you make out with that because I was sort of wondering the same thing...

Do me a favor and go to www.grc.com and do the service port scan (in the shields up section) and see what it gives you when you bypass your router and have no software firewall. I'm getting smatterings of Stealth which doesn't make sense unless my ISP is blocking those ports...

BTW... I know it still works because I am trying to work as a group for school projects (need something to communicate when we're not in school about group projects etc.). Anyhow the one guy said he's having no problems.

Half the problem is that I don't understand how the MSN voice chat works, theoretically... I mean is it connecting to a server out somewhere? Connecting directly to the other person's computer? I need a way to find out what is blocking access.

Access could be locked at 3 levels that I can think of:
1. ISP blocking the ports
2. Router is blocking the ports for some reason...
3. The Software Firewall is still blocking ports while turned off.

Now I have no interest in dropping my software firewall because of my frequent use of a less secure environment on the College network (i'm sure other users on the same IP range etc. could hack me if they wanted to). If someome can offer a way to confiugre Zone Alarm Pro to work properly that'd be great, I tried doing some advanced setup, putting in the ports etc. but it had no effect.

 

[MiXdNuTs]

Just got off the phone with China, which I wouldn't recomend right now because its a national holiday and the lines are all tied up, and it looks like the connection problem is on their end. They can't connect to anyone with voice com. I haven't tested mine with anywhere else, but I'll assume it works.