Voice chat must be direct?

stevegongrui · June 24, 2003 3:34PM

I was wondering if the voice chat has to be a direct connection to a direct connection as I'm on a 56k and my friend is on a home dsl connection via a router. Is the router preventing the possibility to do a voice chat and subsequently a video too?

I get the error "There was a network timeout starting the conference."

What is this supposed to mean?

Thanks in advance.

Steve.

thuh freak · June 24, 2003 5:02PM

now, i'm haven't seen the ichat code, and have no real clue how it works, but i imagine that it runs through the same socket as the regular IM traffic. so i dont think its a firewall/router issue. i got that timeout message at least once, and i found that if i (and the other guy) both closed any IM windows we had between us, then tried initiating the connection, then it worked.

stevegongrui · June 24, 2003 6:04PM

Quote:

Originally posted by thuh Freak

now, i'm haven't seen the ichat code, and have no real clue how it works, but i imagine that it runs through the same socket as the regular IM traffic. so i dont think its a firewall/router issue. i got that timeout message at least once, and i found that if i (and the other guy) both closed any IM windows we had between us, then tried initiating the connection, then it worked.

Can you please elaborate on the closing IM windows deal? I don't see why I'd need to close any as we just initiate a voice chat and there is no windows to close.

Any other tips? I don't know. I've tried a few times and can never get it to work.

Thanks for replying though

wmf · June 24, 2003 9:15PM

I bet a lot of people are about to learn why NATs are bad.

bauman · June 24, 2003 11:13PM

Ah, it runs through a different socket.

When I first started iChat AV, I had my built in OS X firewall on. iChat told me to open up port: 5298. I think this might have something to do with your problems. If your firewall is on, you can add a new rule for this port and allow it. If it's the router... well, good luck

ghost_user_name · June 25, 2003 1:45AM

iChat is an iApp. Moving to Digital Hub with the other iChat and iApp threads.

stevegongrui · June 25, 2003 2:29AM

What is an NAT? And how does that link to my problem?

Well, I don't have a firewall and neither does my friend. She has two computers in her house which means they go through a router.

What if she were to disconnect the router and just hook up directly to the dsl modem to one computer? Do you think that would solve the problem?

I'd be thrilled about this new service, only if I could get it to work

ghost_user_name · June 25, 2003 2:36AM

Quote:

Originally posted by stevegongrui

What is an NAT?

Network Address Translation. It's when a single box that has internet access shares that access among other boxes on the LAN (local area network).

Quote:

She has two computers in her house which means they go through a router.

Bingo. There's your NAT.

Quote:

What if she were to disconnect the router and just hook up directly to the dsl modem to one computer? Do you think that would solve the problem?

Absolutely.

stevegongrui · June 25, 2003 2:59AM

Just another question,

If on my side I use a dial up, it would be ok?

Also, my father's office has a fast T1 connection but he's in an organisation with a couple of thousand computers. There is no firewall, but I assume it wouldn't be direct, right?

Thanks Brad, you're up early! (Or late)

gee4orce · June 25, 2003 5:45AM

Not so quick with the NAT thing. Apple specifically mention that iChat works over NAT, and I can confirm so, having have a videoconference from my unwired powerbook.

Personally I'd check the firewall settings on both machines and the router. See the iChat help regarding firewalls.

eugene · June 25, 2003 6:18AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gee4orce

Not so quick with the NAT thing. Apple specifically mention that iChat works over NAT, and I can confirm so, having have a videoconference from my unwired powerbook.

Absolutely right. I have used video and audio iChatting over a Linksys wireless AP and over an AirPort Extreme Basestation, bot with NAT enabled.

stevegongrui · June 25, 2003 10:15AM

Well, sorry for being a pest guys, but,

So we've got no firewall on. We never activated it so we don't have it even set up.

Then I guess it's the router's problem? I don't understand what you mean to "check the router". It's a piece of hardware and I don't know how to "check" it. Could you please elaborate?

And why wouldn't it work if you say Apple specifically said it can go through routers?

mrmister · June 25, 2003 10:39AM

I am having the same problem--I'm now checking to ensure that all our firewalls are off.

agent302 · June 25, 2003 1:59PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Eugene

Absolutely right. I have used video and audio iChatting over a Linksys wireless AP and over an AirPort Extreme Basestation, bot with NAT enabled.

Do you need to enable any sort of port mapping, or does it work as is?

jahy · June 25, 2003 2:20PM

Routers can usually be configured through a web interface. It is accessible through the router ip address, perhaps 192.168.1.1. It varies. Some routers come configured friendlier than others.

There are lots of neat things you can make the routers do from inside its configuration webpage. The page is generally only accesible to the computers internal to its network. That means your friend could mess with the settings, but you or I cannot.

jahy · June 25, 2003 2:23PM

By the way, one quick thing she could do to make it work would be to use the router's DMZ thing (if it can). It makes one computer completely open to the internet. That way you don't have to mess with port forwarding.

stevegongrui · June 25, 2003 6:53PM

What is a rounter DMZ thing? I have no experiences with routers and she isn't computer savvy.

Please explain, thanks.

dfiler · June 26, 2003 10:54AM

Perhaps NAT isn't to blaim. I'm running a wireless router with no forwarded ports or DMZ... yet am still able to vid-conference with people on the WAN who are also behind an airport or wired router.

Strange thing is... I've never got file transfers to work between iChat and windows based IMers. Although, I haven't tried since installing iChat AV. Perhaps Apple finally wised up. It was one of my pet peeves that iChat would pretend that it was capable of transfering files and then give a cryptic error.

Hopefully the problems people are experiencing here are random beta bugs and not an indication that iChat isn't supposed to work flawlessly despite of NAT. Not much help to the currently screwed, but at least we can hope that Apple is trying to resolve the port forwarding fiasco that currently plagues the IM world.

slackula · June 26, 2003 12:48PM

So can one see at least very slow moving or still pictures of the other party and still do voice chat over a dial up?

serrano · June 26, 2003 5:09PM

Quote:

Originally posted by stevegongrui

What is a rounter DMZ thing? I have no experiences with routers and she isn't computer savvy.

Please explain, thanks.

Router's have a setting for a DMZ - ok, first off, a router is a firewall, and your fathers company with '1000 computers' obviously has a router, and thus a firewall, and most likely dedicated firewalls - DMZ stands for demilitarized zone and removes firewall 'protection' from whatever box you place in the DMZ.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're screwed. It's a very common problem, and technically 'easily' fixed, but there's no way in hell you're going to be able to configure her router by proxy, pun intended

, with the knowledge you and she have. If you'll look up some of the iTunes4 Sharing threads many of them have detailed instructions on configuring a router to port forward (in your case port 5298 ), which is what you need to do.

Voice chat must be direct?

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