UPNP Internet Gateway keeps dropping with Belkin WiFi Router

Trust me, I am! I activated UPnP and suddenly the MSN transfers went from painfully slow to blissfully super-fast. I'm not hear to 'prove' anything, I was only asking a question. If you want to look into why MSN works best with UPnP feel free to search the web.

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Reply to
Chris Smithers
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I haven't been sold a pup, I've been sold a pnp.

Reply to
Chris Smithers

This is because without one of uPNP or port forwarding, MSN file xfers operate by copying the file to a central server, then back out. This is a design decision by MSN, who are too tight to provide proper server bandwidth.

BUT.

You absolutely do NOT need uPNP to get the faster performance, all you need to do is set up perfectly normal port forwarding. This isn't rocket science and is way safer.

I have, and what it says is "MSN is a pup, don't use this junk"

Indeed. Advertising. Mark McIntyre

Reply to
Mark McIntyre
[POSTED TO alt.internet.wireless - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

I don't think so -- the file transfers slowing down strongly suggest a router problem, not a Windows XP problem.

Reply to
John Navas
[POSTED TO alt.internet.wireless - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

That's a bit of an exaggeration.

What matters is having inbound ports forwarded, which can be accomplished in most routers without using UPnP.

Bittorrent (Azureus) works quite well without port forwarding.

That you are using these filesharing programs tends to support my suspicion that they may be causing the problem (per my first response here).

I think that's a symptom of a router problem, not the loss of UPnP. If a file transfer continues to work at all, then loss UPnP isn't the cause of the speed loss -- it's just a related symptom of the real problem.

The issue isn't whether or not the icon disappears, but whether or not port forwarding is still working. If port forwarding is working, which can be checked easily, then UPnP is irrelevant to the slowdown.

Reply to
John Navas
[POSTED TO alt.internet.wireless - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

What UPnP actually does in this case is set up incoming port forwarding in the router.

Reply to
John Navas
[POSTED TO alt.internet.wireless - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

Link? Because I don't think so, and can't find any such advice (e.g.,

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MSN file transfer either works or it doesn't as far as UPnP is concerned -- speed isn't a UPnP issue.

Not really. And many UPnP apps leave ports open even after they are shut down.

You are confusing firewall port opening with port forwarding in the router. They are different things.

Reply to
John Navas

I see that as a misperception, especially when the alternative is the enabling of router UPnP capability.

The days of flawed TCP stack software are over I think, and without a vulnerability in that element of your system there is no risk from packets that are delivered without an open target port. Unless something on the target machine, or on a promiscuous card on the same network segment, is listening for packets labelled with that port number they are discarded, with almost no processing.

The only way such an entry point could be considered dangerous is that 'a hacker' could place a hidden application on your machine that listens for instructions on that port. (And yes, it is possible to write such an application in such a way that it can deal with the port clash inherent in you opening the legit program)

However, your prefered alternative allows this hypothetical hacker to open any port on the router that s/he feels like, once your machine (not quite the same as you) executes their code. I don't see that as more secure, and that is before you add in the potential for vulnerability accrued for running *any* additional service.

I'd support the advice offered of statically opening the ports and doing away with UPnP altogether.

Dave J.

Reply to
Dave J.

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