# BT Homehubs and gaming.



## RedOctober (Dec 29, 2006)

I recently had the misfortune of taking out a Broadband contract with BT. This entailed getting a flashy new BT Homehub. I did not realise at the time, however, that BT's idea of secure connection seems to be wrapping your PC in cotton wool, so to speak. Aside from being plagued with problems of random websites being blocked, the internet giving out completely for periods of time, wholly unhelpful tech support answers (after explaining my problem of random websites failing to load, they replied "Have you tried opening Internet Explore and typing in the address of the site you wish you access in the address bar then clicking on 'Go'?") I have also been troubled by online gaming problems.

First of all, the first time I tried to play Counter Strike, I could play for about 4 seconds, then it would disconnect me. I then got around the problem by setting up ports for Counter Strike, and it seemed to work. Except it randomly repeated the problem for no obvious reason. Then, I couldn't join a game of C&C Gens. I would get to the connecting screen then I'd disconnect. I could disable the built in Homehub firewall, I could set up the ports specified in the manual, but nothing would work. I've pretty much given up on it ever working, which is a shame, because I rather enjoyed that game. Another problem I experience is that I can never host a game. Ever. At all. Garry's Mod, HOI2, JKA, SWGB... Doesn't matter what game, I simply cannot host. This is especially frustrating when I wish to play with my friends who have pretty poor internet connections, and it ends up with everyone experiencing lag and lots of it. I try disabling the builtin Homehub firewall, setting up every port under the sun... but I cannot host.

Please... please... can someone help me? This is really doing my head in. I'm on the point of travelling by bus to their house and just playing Scrabble with them instead. :sigh: 

Oh, and a bit of advice to anyone : Don't use BT.


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## gamerman0203 (Oct 28, 2005)

hrm... I'm not sure who BT is, but it sounds like they have some strict restrictions on bandwidth and such. This is the most feared way of doing things, but have you tried calling BT and explaining to them?

Have you had this problem with any other ISPs?


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## MattWilde (Feb 27, 2007)

RedOctober said:


> I recently had the misfortune of taking out a Broadband contract with BT. This entailed getting a flashy new BT Homehub. I did not realise at the time, however, that BT's idea of secure connection seems to be wrapping your PC in cotton wool, so to speak. Aside from being plagued with problems of random websites being blocked, the internet giving out completely for periods of time, wholly unhelpful tech support answers (after explaining my problem of random websites failing to load, they replied "Have you tried opening Internet Explore and typing in the address of the site you wish you access in the address bar then clicking on 'Go'?") I have also been troubled by online gaming problems.
> 
> First of all, the first time I tried to play Counter Strike, I could play for about 4 seconds, then it would disconnect me. I then got around the problem by setting up ports for Counter Strike, and it seemed to work. Except it randomly repeated the problem for no obvious reason. Then, I couldn't join a game of C&C Gens. I would get to the connecting screen then I'd disconnect. I could disable the built in Homehub firewall, I could set up the ports specified in the manual, but nothing would work. I've pretty much given up on it ever working, which is a shame, because I rather enjoyed that game. Another problem I experience is that I can never host a game. Ever. At all. Garry's Mod, HOI2, JKA, SWGB... Doesn't matter what game, I simply cannot host. This is especially frustrating when I wish to play with my friends who have pretty poor internet connections, and it ends up with everyone experiencing lag and lots of it. I try disabling the builtin Homehub firewall, setting up every port under the sun... but I cannot host.
> 
> ...


I have the exact same problem!!!!! Please keep me informed, I'll try and call BT whenever I can and I'll post back what they say.


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## MattWilde (Feb 27, 2007)

Well, the problem with me is:

On Steam, take for instance Day of Defeat Source, the first server I connect to, it disconnects after 30 or so seconds. I then connect to a different server and it doesn't disconnect. However it does have strange lag. Every 20 or so seconds the game freezes and then returns me to game. This is very annoying!!!!

I forwarded the correct ports on the BTHomeHub Application Sharing page which I got from here: http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/BT/BTHomeHub/Day_of_Defeat_Source.htm

And this fixed the problem of it disconnecting after the first attempt at connecting to a server but not the overall lag problem.

I've emailed BT.


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## Danile22892 (May 24, 2007)

I also have the same problem. When i load into a Counter Strike server after around 30 seconds my game will lock up, when i disconnect for the server and try and rejoin it tell me that my steam user ID is already in use on the server.

If i find anyway of resolving this problem i will keep you guys updated.


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## ballisticsfood (Jun 5, 2007)

This is exactly the problem i'm trying to solve for a dedicated gmod10 server!
It doesnt work unless i put the server machine in the DMZ on the homehub, which unfortunately punches a massive hole in security through which all sorts of stuff could come...

Ifyou value your safety, then dont put it in the DMZ. If you want the darned thing to WORK, put it in the DMZ.

Port forwarding seems to have no effect.

If anyone could work out some way to solve this incredibly irritating little problem, I for one would love their brains for the rest of my life.:wink:


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## Facemywrath (Feb 21, 2009)

So, basically you join a server, it does the first thing, then says connecting to server and then goes to the server list?


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## Facemywrath (Feb 21, 2009)

i wanted to mention something
Anyone here watch Stargate?


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## Facemywrath (Feb 21, 2009)

Because, theres an episode in season 7 called "avenger 2.0" where they send a virus to baals homeworld and baal starts a correlative update in the stargates
maybe this lil thing is like a correlative update, my friend rconned a server and i cudnt join it does the first thing, then says connecting to server and then goes to the server list. and then i tried another server later
it didnt work. its spreadin. so i think it might be updating the servers so u cant join them. As far as I know, this problem for me started 6:00-6:30 on February 20th, 2009. And I do not know if it was here before that because it did it when i tried to join again, but i doubt it because i crashed shortly before i left, rejoined and it worked fine


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## McNinja (Jun 22, 2008)

a lot of the routers now a days have smart NAT

which means that they can sense which ports are being used and block them if needed.

go phone your ISP and yell at them and tell them to take off any smart blocking crap. I would hate to have your ISP


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## Origin (Jul 13, 2008)

Some of my friends made the mistake of signing up with BT and had nothing but problems. Try and get out of the contract and sign with Virgin Media, been with them for 6 years now and never had a problem.


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