Window Messenger Video with a router (RP614)

[Mnoeyal]

I have a NetGear RP614 and I cant use sound/video on my
Messenger; anybody knows if there's a solution for this?

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings,

In order to have a voice/video conversation from behind a router, the router needs to support
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) or have some type of built-in Messenger voice/video support
(usually triggered by putting a PC into the DMZ of the router, see router documentation to do
this).

However, the RP614 can have UPnP support, you just need to install a firmware update. To do
so, download the latest version from here (the Netgear website does not have it yet):
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,6021285~root=equip,9~mode=flat
Note: Do not install this firmware if the model number ends with v2 (see the bottom of your
router to check)

To install the firmware:
Firstly, unzip the file that you downloaded from the above link, then open your browser
(Internet Explorer or Netscape), access the router (usually http://192.168.0.1), login to the
router (User Name = admin Password = password unless you have changed it). Under
Maintenance, click Router Upgrade, click Browse and locate the upgrade file you extracted
from the zip. Click Upload, wait for the router to reboot, then reboot your computer and you
should be able to use voice/video.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com


"Mnoeyal" > wrote in message
...
> I have a NetGear RP614 and I cant use sound/video on my
> Messenger; anybody knows if there's a solution for this?

[Chuck Croll]

On Mon, 28 Apr 2003 18:02:47 -0400, "Jonathan Kay [MVP]"
> wrote:

>Greetings,
>
>In order to have a voice/video conversation from behind a router, the router needs to support
>Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) or have some type of built-in Messenger voice/video support
>(usually triggered by putting a PC into the DMZ of the router, see router documentation to do
>this).
>
Don't put your computer into the DMZ without knowing what that is.
Using the DMZ is the same as unplugging your computer from the router
and plugging it into the internet directly. The only thing you gain
is the ability to share files with other computers on your LAN -
which, if you think about it, is not a smart thing to do.

>However, the RP614 can have UPnP support, you just need to install a firmware update. To do
>so, download the latest version from here (the Netgear website does not have it yet):
>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,6021285~root=equip,9~mode=flat
>Note: Do not install this firmware if the model number ends with v2 (see the bottom of your
>router to check)

What operating system are you running? If you don't have Windows XP,
then a UPnP router will not get you any major improvement.

If you don't have Windows XP, then Port Magic at
http://www.purenetworks.com/products/portmagic/#
may help you. PM does support the RP614. You can try it for free.

>SNIP<

>"Mnoeyal" > wrote in message
...
>> I have a NetGear RP614 and I cant use sound/video on my
>> Messenger; anybody knows if there's a solution for this?
>


Chuck Croll

Spam sucks - PLEASE get rid of the spam before emailing me!

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Hi Chuck,

Although most likely they're using Windows XP, since they're posting here, but an UPnP
enabled OS is *NOT* required for voice/video to be successful. Windows 95, 98, ME, NT4 or
2000 will all work, since the router is the one that translates the SIP request. Although
MSN Messenger 5 will give a "warning" that it may not work (since it detects the NAT), it
will still work fine.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com



> What operating system are you running? If you don't have Windows XP,
> then a UPnP router will not get you any major improvement.
>
> If you don't have Windows XP, then Port Magic at
> http://www.purenetworks.com/products/portmagic/#
> may help you. PM does support the RP614. You can try it for free.
>

[Hofbrau]

"Chuck Croll" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 28 Apr 2003 18:02:47 -0400, "Jonathan Kay [MVP]"
> > wrote:
>
> >Greetings,
> >
> >In order to have a voice/video conversation from behind a router, the router
needs to support
> >Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) or have some type of built-in Messenger
voice/video support
> >(usually triggered by putting a PC into the DMZ of the router, see router
documentation to do
> >this).
> >
> Don't put your computer into the DMZ without knowing what that is.
> Using the DMZ is the same as unplugging your computer from the router
> and plugging it into the internet directly.

No, it isnt. Just as a car and a bus arent the same thing. They might be
similar in some ways, but they arent the same thing.

> The only thing you gain
> is the ability to share files with other computers on your LAN -
> which, if you think about it, is not a smart thing to do.

How exactly does enabling the DMZ mode of the gateway have anything to do with
enabling the ability of different PCs on the LAN can share files with each
other? Utter nonsense.

In fact, in some vendors gateways configurations, enabling DMZ mode not only
acts as "default forwarding", but it also partitions the IP/physical port from
the rest of the LAN, making it completely inacessible in either direction
(depending).

Perhaps the phrase "slightly informed and most talking out of your ass" applies
here..

Hey, but at least you arent advocating (elsewhere) permanent manual port
forwarding without knowing what you are doing.

> >However, the RP614 can have UPnP support, you just need to install a firmware
update. To do
> >so, download the latest version from here (the Netgear website does not have
it yet):
> >http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,6021285~root=equip,9~mode=flat
> >Note: Do not install this firmware if the model number ends with v2 (see the
bottom of your
> >router to check)
>
> What operating system are you running? If you don't have Windows XP,
> then a UPnP router will not get you any major improvement.

Dumbassism. You are sadly a very ill-informed idiot. It may seem blunt and
brutal, but trust me, its necessary for you to hear it.

Microsoft provides UPnP NAT Traversal support for Windows in two ways:

1) Via the DirectPlay8 APIs in DirectX 8.1 and higher, which can be installed on
Windows 98, 98 SE, 2000, ME and XP.

or

2) Via the NAT Traversal APIs, which comes with XP, and can be installed on
Windows 98, 98 SE, and ME via the "netsetup.exe" file obtainable from any XP CD
or installation, or via several XP updates (you can extract from file from the
update, such as SP1).

You can read my other post to you on where to download each accordingly...

And this is just the Microsoft Windows support.

Furthermore, alternate OS support is also available for Linux/Unix/FreeBSD. See
the other post for more details.

UPnP NAT Traversal traversal is not OS dependent. Any application can code its
own UPnP NAT Traversal support, whether or not the OS the app runs on provides
any UPnP NAT Traversal support/APIs.

You can read this for yourself at www.upnp.org

If you want to see an example of an application that includes built-in UPnP NAT
Traversal support and that doesnt rely on any OS UPnP APIs, look here:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/internet_utilities/netfone.html
http://www.haxialsoftware.com/products/netfone/

Notice its available for Mac OS 9 and 10. Apple provides no OS level UPnP
support at all (NAT Traversal or otherwise). In fact, Apple is not part of the
UPnP Forum, and has what it believes is a "competitive" technology protocol
called "Rendezvous". Its not competitive, but, Apple lives in its own world, as
always.

Regardless, the application is also available for ALL versions of MS Windows,
from Windows 95 onward. No OS level UPnP support of any kind is necessary, or
used even if present. The application includes UPnP NAT Traversal support all
on its own.

> If you don't have Windows XP, then Port Magic at
> http://www.purenetworks.com/products/portmagic/#
> may help you. PM does support the RP614. You can try it for free.

Ah so now we get to it - product advertisement.

Except that Port Magic limited, buggy, and free only for a limited time (14
days). I should know, i "helped" alpha/beta test it for them. I notice you
dont mention its a paid product that only has a limited free trial period...

For example, the silly thing isnt even "smart" enough to detect when an
application is UPnP NAT Traversal enabled at all, and will double up (and
completely uselessly waste) port mappings because of this.

It also has major problems when file access or winsock filters are in usage by
other third party applications such as virus scanners and software firewalls,
among others.

Not to mention you really can only run it on a single PC at a time unless you
want lots of potential port mapping conflicts and weird behavior.

And it doesnt support multiple simultaneously logged on users on XP...

It doesnt support any application that runs as a service, or any service, etc
etc.

In other words, Port Magic is really only "useful" when legacy non-UPnP apps are
used on a single PC with only one user logged onto the PC, etc etc. Lots of
limitations and caveats

Far easier to simply get a firmware upgrade that supports UPnP NAT Traversal -
its free, isnt a 3MB download, doesnt have to be installed on each PC that uses
it, can be used by any OS/app that has UPnP NAT Traversal support, doesnt take
up more PC RAM and CPU time, isnt slow when engaging in the port mapping
process, and requires zero user intervention after being installed/enabled (etc
etc etc).

Cogitate,
Hofbrau.

> >SNIP<
>
> >"Mnoeyal" > wrote in message
> ...
> >> I have a NetGear RP614 and I cant use sound/video on my
> >> Messenger; anybody knows if there's a solution for this?
> >
>
>
> Chuck Croll
>
> Spam sucks - PLEASE get rid of the spam before emailing me!
>