I went to play a tcp/ip game with a mate the other night but it wont let me connect to him or him connect to me. I tried using a program called gamespy arcade, and it told me that because my internal ip address is 192.168.x.x and my external one is 60.240.x.x it could cause me problems. (I'm using a Netcomm NB5 if you're wondering) How can i make it so that i can play tcp/ip games? Thanks in advance for any help given

From personal experience and your problem description here's what may be causing the problem:

1. You're using a router but didn't open the ports required for the game.
2. You're behind a firewall but you didn't give the game the proper network/internet permissions.
3. You're behind a router but the game doesn't actually use your external IP address.

May as well be any combination of these 3 problems. You'll just have to figure it out.

Well, let's check it up case by case shall we?

In case nr. 1, you'll have to access your router configuration (usually via HTML page by typing your router's IP address on your browser like you were going to access a web site). Then follow the instructions on this web page:port forwarding for your specific router

All should be OK if this is your problem.

Now for case number two. You should go around your firewall configuration and check if your game has it's permissions set up. Usually you'd like it to be able to access the internet/LAN and sometimes it's required for it to be able to accept incoming connections (aka "act as a server").

This is a bit dependant on the software you're using, so I can't go into really much detail here.

By the way, if you're using something like Norton Personal Firewall, ZoneAlarm and such and you have Windows Firewall enable too, disable this last one, in my personal opinion it brings more problems than it solves (including a false sense of security).

For the 3rd problem, usually the problem can only be solved by connecting directly through the internet. Not much to say about it.

Try these things and say if you got anywhere. I'll be here to help!

Im not sure about this, but i think you have to installsome more features.
open up network connections, open the properties of which ever connections connects to the router.
there will be a white box in the middle of the properties screen, it will have:
-Client for Microsoft Networks
-File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks
-QoS Packet Schelduler
-Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

Under that there will be 3 buttons, Install, Unistall and Properties.
Click install, protocol and NWLink, Im not sure if that will fix it but it helped me.