Router Blocking Port

Not sure if this has been answered yet or not. I've looked through the forums and couldn't find my exact problem...

When I connect with MUSHclient to the MUSH that I play (TrekMUSH - Among The Stars at ats.trekmush.org port 1701 [108.192.136.101:1701]) from a network/connection other than my home network, it will connect fine.

When I try to connect from my home network (Laptop<->Linksys WRT54GC Router<->Time Warner Cable<->Internet, I get the following return...

Unable to connect to "TrekMUSH - Among The Stars", code = 10060 (Connection timed out)

Error occurred during phase: Connecting to world: 108.192.136.101, port 1701

I've already gone through and checked the forum post that is posted after that (http://www.gammon.com.au/forum/?id=8369) but I have not been able to resolve this.

I did try going in and putting in a port forward in my router's internal settings with the following information:

Application Name___Start Port~End Port___Protocol______IP Address____Enabled
MUSH____________1701____~1701_____X TCP X UDP__192.168.1.100___X

This made no difference and I still can not connect through my home network...

Would you have any other ideas?

Why? Port forwarding is for incoming requests, not outgoing ones.

Yeah, I knew that... I just wanted to eliminate the possibility that the communication from the server wasn't making it back...

Try running tracert to see where the connection is failing. ( You can read http://support.microsoft.com/KB/314868 for info )

Maybe you inadvertently blocked that port / app in Windows. Try another MUD (different port) and another PC / laptop if possible.

I was able to successfully connect on this laptop, on my home network to Realms Of Despair (216.251.47.10 : 4000).

I was not, however successful in connecting to TrekMUSH - ATS (108.192.136.101 : 1701) on my other laptop on my home network.

This is why i think it is my router blocking port 1701 (or a range of ports including that one). I'm not finding any settings in the router which block that port, however.

Run tracert. Stop guessing about where the packets get dropped. :|

The packet never makes it passed my router, which I already knew. I have already narrowed it down to the fact that my router is somehow blocking port 1701. I came to this conclusion though the following tests:

I can connect to ATS.trekmush.org:1701 under the following conditions:
My primary laptop on another network,
My secondary laptop on another network,
My primary laptop connected directly to my cable modem,
My secondary laptop connected directly to my cable modem.

I can connect to realmsofdespair.com:4000 under the following conditions:
My primary laptop on another network,
My secondary laptop on another network,
My primary laptop connected directly to my cable modem,
My secondary laptop connected directly to my cable modem.
My primary laptop connected to my router,
My secondary laptop connected to my router.

I can NOT connect to ATS.trekmush.org:1701 under the following conditions:
My primary laptop connected to my router,
My secondary laptop connected to my router.

I did computer/network repair for 5 years... I know how to troubleshoot and am not guessing at anything.

I have been through all of the settings in the internal settings pages of my router and am not finding any setting that would explain or show that the router is blocking port 1701 or a range of ports including port 1701.

Has anyone had any experience where a port was being blocked by a router without the settings expressly instructing it to do so?

Does anyone know how I can expressly tell my WRT54GC router to allow communications on port 1701 to pass through?

Sorry if I seem to have an attitude, but don't accuse me of something when you don't know...

Fiendish wasn't accusing you of anything, you didn't give us any information to indicate you'd already done any testing via tracert. That said, I've got the same model router and if I remember correctly, 1701 is a reserved for layer 2 tunneling protocol. Honestly, whomever is running TrekMUSH made a very poor choice on what port to run on.

The information presented before was not indicative of a router problem in the absence of the record of you physically bypassing the router.

Anyway, try:
security, vpn passthrough, l2tp passthrough

Thank you for the information, I went to Security -> VPN Passthrough and found L2TP Passthrough already enabled. Just out of curiosity, I did try it both enabled and disabled with no change in connectivity. Any other ideas?

Wait, you said tracert shows the packet dying at your router? Given that tracert doesn't take a port assignment, it's not a port issue. Check your access restrictions tab and see if you've managed to get the address blocked somehow. Might also want to be sure you aren't filtering interet nat traffic in your security settings

WhiteNyte did not indicate ever running tracert.

I ran it before my long post. It traced the route ok without the port applied,

I'm wondering if your cable modem is configured for l2tp passthru. Just to see if your router is actually reaching the port on the server, try connecting your browser to 108.192.136.101:1701 - if it's working you should get the raw login screen a couple of times but you (obviously) won't be able to do anything with it. I still say 1701 was a seriously bad choice of port to run anything on.

L2TP passthrough is enabled.

When I attempt to connect my browser to http://108.192.136.101:1701 I get "Paid Cannot Be Displayed."

As far as the port choice, I have no control over that, It's not my mush, but a few of the StarTrek MU* use port 1701 based on the TV show's USS Enterprise which bears the Starfleet registry number of NCC-1701. I can't change it, they have had that port for a long time...

All I can suggest you do is use a proxy server such as Tor to connect outwards from your computer and then connect via Tor thus bypassing the problem port. I can't remember the exact technique but I'm sure it can be done.