For quite some time I've had a problem with connecting to my friend's IP (and vice versa). At first I thought it was a simple firewall issue but it seems that that's not the case since the problem persists even when firewalls are disabled. We've been trying to counter this with various P2P programs, some of which offer some sort of relay/proxy system, with no results. What makes this even more confounding is that the problem exists in some cases even when a third party has hosted a game or network. For instance I can't connect to someone's Dawn of War game if my friend has joined it already and vice versa. The connection isn't completely "severed" apparently, since sometimes a hosted network or game is visible but trying to connect results in a timeout.

 

What makes this even weirder is that I haven't encountered a problem like this with anyone else and my friend has only had this problem with my IP. Any thoughts? Secret government plot to prevent us from playing RTS games together?

ive had a problem similar and it was my isp that was blocking me

I agree with Softix -- your provider (or your friend's provider) may be blocking incoming connections. I've had providers do this to me and it can be rather frustrating to troubleshoot, especially if they don't admit they're doing it, or if you can't get a sentient tech support person on the line.

 

One thing you can check to see is whether your provider has a rule against local hosting of web pages/servers. If they do then they may block such traffic to prevent violations (and help upsell their commercial service).

 

But I actually had one service a while back that did NOT have such a rule, they just blocked services and didn't tell you why. The jerks.

Hmm got to contact my ISP then. I was kind of wondering if it was something related as most service providers really don't seem to have better things to do than inconvenience or just plain annoy their customers to amuse themselves.