Voice Option not working properly

[Heather]

Ok, I downloaded MSNM 6.0 and so did a friend. We tried
using the voice conversation feature and it simply didn't
work. Half the times it came up with "The network or
computer you are trying to reach is experiencing a
problem. Please try again later." And other times it just
ended by itself. So my friend got Messenger 5 back, and
still no luck. But the voice option works with other
people perfectly fine. So I decided to try Windows
messenger with my friend, and STILL no luck. I figure the
problem is on my friend's end, but can anyone tell me a
way he could fix this, or a way I could fix it? Please?
I'm desperate!

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Heather,

A few things could be causing this. Firstly, both you and your contact may just need to go
through the Audio Tuning Wizard again. To do so, open up the main Messenger window, click
the Tools menu, then Audio Tuning Wizard.

Secondly, if either of you are behind a third-party firewall (Norton Firewall, Sygate, Mcafee
Firewall, ZoneAlarm, etc.) make sure that Messenger is set to 'Permit All', 'Allow All', or
that the firewall is set to 'Medium' (especially for ZoneAlarm).

Thirdly, if either you or your contact are using a router, the router must support either
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) or have built-in support for Messenger voice/video (which can
sometimes by triggered by setting yourself into the 'DMZ' of the router, see router
documentation to configure this). A number of routers now support UPnP, but they may need a
firmware update. Check your router manufacturers website to see if there's an update for
UPnP, or simply reply back here with the brand and model of the router and we can quickly
check to see if UPnP is available.

Fourthly, if none of this works, it may be possible that either you or your contact
connections are being NAT'd (that is, being shared), this can happen in some ADSL modems or
even an ISP may NAT a large number of subscribers, in which case most voice over Internet
applications won't work (including Messenger).
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com

 

[Heather]

We both ran the Audio Tuning Wizard, but no luck. Neither
of us are behind a firewall at all, and neither of us are
using routers. And, I'm thinking maybe my connection is
being shared, since I have DSL, but it says his computer
was the one experiencing network problems, but he has
dial up. I thought maybe it'd be a matter of disk space
on his end, since his hard drive is amazingly only 1 gig,
but he cleaned out everything he didn't use and still
nothing.

-----Original Message-----
Greetings Heather,

A few things could be causing this. Firstly, both you

and your contact may just need to go

through the Audio Tuning Wizard again. To do so, open

up the main Messenger window, click

the Tools menu, then Audio Tuning Wizard.

Secondly, if either of you are behind a third-party

firewall (Norton Firewall, Sygate, Mcafee

Firewall, ZoneAlarm, etc.) make sure that Messenger is

set to 'Permit All', 'Allow All', or

that the firewall is set to 'Medium' (especially for ZoneAlarm).

Thirdly, if either you or your contact are using a

router, the router must support either

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) or have built-in support

for Messenger voice/video (which can

sometimes by triggered by setting yourself into

the 'DMZ' of the router, see router

documentation to configure this). A number of routers

now support UPnP, but they may need a

firmware update. Check your router manufacturers

website to see if there's an update for

UPnP, or simply reply back here with the brand and model

of the router and we can quickly

check to see if UPnP is available.

Fourthly, if none of this works, it may be possible that either you or your contact
connections are being NAT'd (that is, being shared),

this can happen in some ADSL modems or

even an ISP may NAT a large number of subscribers, in

which case most voice over Internet

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Hi Heather,

Unfortunately Messenger isn't much of a disk space user (wish these problems were that easily
to solve!).

Dial-up connections are not usually shared (although it's possible), if you want to check
your connection, click Start, then All Programs, then Accessories, then Communications, then
Network Connections. Double-click your Internet connection, and choose the Support tab. If
your IP address begins with a 192, 172, or 10, you may be on a NAT'd connection (either from
your ISP, or a from the DSL modem) and you won't be able to send files/voice/video, etc.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Hi Heather,

No, it doesn't sound like you're behind a NAT -- but perhaps your contact is.

You could try something like Yahoo Messenger, when can (when it's not busy) use a central
server to send audio.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com