The BellSouth supplied Westell is a router that provides NAT (Network Address Translation) capabilities. When using NAT the translated addresses cannot be determined by the remote computer and port mappings cannot be created for the dynamic ports used by Messenger. The Westell is not UPnP (Universal Plug 'n Play) compliant so you will have to manually configure the router to open the required ports. You can use one of several methods to force the WAN IP to the desired computer(s).

Port Forwarding on the Westell
To enable port forwarding and open ports on the Westell please click here.

IP Passthrough on the Westell
To enable IP Passthrough and assign an IP to a specific computer please click here.

Third Party PPPoE Client on the PC
- To set up a PPPoE client (native Windows XP) in conjunction with the Westell please click here.
- To set up a RASPPPoE client please click here.
- To download the BellSouth Connection Agent and installation instructions, please click here.

Important note: Opening ports or using IP Passthrough exposes your computer directly to the Internet. A firewall of some type is highly recommended.

Additional Information: Click here for more information from Microsoft about Messenger and NAT'ing.

Andy Houtz