How to connect to Xbox Live with the Actiontek GT704-WGB wireless router
jtktlw
Enthusiast - Level 2

If the title got you here, then you are probably a Verizon DSL customer who is trying to connect your Xbox to Xbox Live with the Actiontek GT704-WGB wireless router and are getting nothing but errors saying, "your NAT is set too high", or, "Your MTU setting is too low", etc.  Well, after many calls to Xbox support, Actiontek support, and Verizon support, I finally came up with the solution myself.

All that is needed is a little techie know-how about router settings and you'll do just fine!  However, if you are uncomfortable with doing it yourself (and it is really really easy to do!) then you can call Verizon support and have a tech support rep remotely conntect to your PC and make the changes for you: however, you have to speak with someone in advanced tech support and to do that you have to agree to a 1 year support contract to the tune of $14.95 per month in order for them to do it!  Scam???  You be the judge!

So, here are the steps to take to get it working and by the way, YOU CAN NOT GET THE XBOX TO CONNECT TO THIS ROUTER WIRELESSLY!!  YOU MUST CONNECT YOUR XBOX TO THE ROUTER WITH AN ETHERNET CABLE IN ORDER FOR THIS TO WORK!!!  If you don't heed this warning, you will unfortunatly go through all the steps below, only to find that you get the same errors but, ethernet is faster than wireless so it's better!....right?.....right?   (hears crickets chirping)....right?  Oh well, I tried!  Also, you must have your Xbox on in order to change the router settings (which you'll see why later) Anyway, here's the steps:

1) On your PC, open a browser window and type in the address bar:  192.168.1.1 and press enter.

2) You will then see the interface on which you will make changes to the router's settings.  If at any time you are prompted for a username and password (which should happen right after you press enter) the defaults are: username: admin password: password.  If you have changed these, enter what you changed them to.

3)Click on the icon on the top labelled "Advanced Setup"

4)In the left section, click "WAN IP Address"

5)At the warning screen, click "yes"

6)Scroll down until you see "MTU setting" and enter 1370.  NOTE:Please don't be tempted to either enter 1500 or leaving it at 1500 (which is the default) because you might know that 1500 is the maximum at which this can be set which is TOO HIGH AND WILL NOT WORK!  Trust me and enter 1370 and then click on "apply"

7)Click on the top icon labelled "Security"

8)In the left column, click on "applications".  This is where we are going to open the 3 ports that Xbox Live uses to communicate with your Xbox.

9)In the drop down box labelled "PC Name" select "Xbox 360". This is why you had to have your console on and connected cuz if you didn't, it would not show up on the drop down list!

10)Under "category" click on the bubble next to "user"

11)Click on "New" which is one of the blue buttons near the bottom.

12)As for the rule name, I entered "Xbox" but you can put whatever you want but I'd use that so you know it's the ports you opened for the console.

13)For protocol, select TCP. (Yes you will also open the same ports for UDP but for some reason if you select TCP.UDP instead of doing them seperatly it doesn't work.....I dunno why!?

14)For all 3 "Port start", "Port End", and "Port Map Start" put the # 80.

15)Click "apply"

16)Now, select UDP and put the same port # 80 and again click "apply"

17)Repeat steps 13 through 16 except with the numbers 3074 and 53, clicking apply after each one.  What you should have now on the bottom are a list of all the ports you opened, one TCP and one UDP for each number totalling 6 entries.

18)Click "back" to return to the Applications screen.

19)If you have to, select Xbox 360 for PC name, and click the bubble next to "user" and you'll now see the entry called "Xbox" or whatever you called it.

20)Click that entry to highlight it and then click the blue "add" button to the left and then click "apply" at the bottom.

21)Close the browser screen and turn off your PC and Xbox and any other hardware connected to the router.

22)Turn the router off and unplug it and wait about 5 minutes.  It can take this long for any residual current in the router to dissapate and for the NAT table to clear itself.

23)Turn on the router and wait for the internet light to come on green meaning the router has booted and has an internet connection.

24)Turn on the Xbox AND ONLY THE XBOX!

25)There is no need to go into network setting as when the Xbox is connected by ethernet, it automatically configures and connects intself.  You can, however go into network settings and perform a connection test but this to is not necessary.

You now should be able to connect to Xbox Live!  If not, you've done something wrong and must either go through all the steps again or let Verizon do it for you (for a fee that is).

Re: How to connect to Xbox Live with the Actiontek GT704-WGB wireless router
Dephinix
Enthusiast - Level 3

Well... in retrospect... my method was much simpler, might want to attempt it first?

Go to 192.168.1.1 in browser, click on Security, then DMZ Hosting. There will be a drop down menu, set it for your Xbox 360 (or whatever console you're connecting to). If it doesn't appear, make sure all connections are proper, and on. Try to connect and etc.

If that doesn't work, keep it that way. It's still a good thing to enable. 
Some games, like in my position CoD Modern Warfare 2, will clear out say there is a NAT problem. If you're lazy and want to risk small threats, you can your NAT Off, which is in the same menu as DMZ Hosting. I can do this from my set-up with little worries, and it's not recommended. Just a simple trick. I'd turn it off, turn my computer off, and play video games, then turn it back on when I used my computers. Just advice for LAZY gamers. Above message seems to be pretty secured. If you have the time for tedious work, go his route.

Re: How to connect to Xbox Live with the Actiontek GT704-WGB wireless router
xboxjunkie
Enthusiast - Level 2

@jtktlw: you can do it that way but it is much MUCH easier to do it the other way mentioned. And actually you CAN connect wirelessly. I know b/c I do and have not had any connection problems with it that way either. After HOURS(about 10 to be exact) of dealing with XBOX and Verizon Tech agents who are about as dumb as a box of rocks, and after being conned into the Premium Tech Support, I figured it out on my own and hopefully no one with this router gateway whatever thing will EVEr have to go thru the headaches that i endured that week.

Its great that you posted this tho. I posted one as well earlier in the year with just the simple steps to enable DMZ. No one should have to deal with those people. SERIOUSLY!! Im not all that "techy" I know enough but no where near as much as they should and I figured it out just from all the stuff that they tried to do.

The trick is to NOT, I repeat NOT!, turn on UPnP or mess with MTU. Simply open the necessary ports, or enable DMZ hosting.

Re: How to connect to Xbox Live with the Actiontek GT704-WGB wireless router
XanuPhel
Enthusiast - Level 1

I followed jtktlw's instructions to the letter.  Problem was I had already enabled UPnP before doing so.  Afterward I disabled UPnP and rebooted....no change.  I reset the MTU to 1500...boom, it works.  Seems for me all I needed was to open the right ports to get it to work.