Re: iChat firewall question

On 2006-02-10 20:30:26 -0500, Bob Harris <nospam.News.Bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> said:

In article <bloomite-5778A9.19143210022006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
bloomite <bloomite@xxxxxxx> wrote:

A coworker and I tested two iSight cameras at work with iChat. He used his .mac account and I used my AIM account and we connected fine. He was running 10.4.4 on a G4 tower and I had 10.3.5 on a G4 laptop.

He said when he has tried in the past he cannot make an iChat connection to his son's .mac account when he is at work and his son is at home, it never makes the connection.

So it made us wonder:

1. Does the firewall at work affect the iChat connection if one of the viewers is outside the firewall, but not if both viewers are inside?

Generally yes. The corporate firewall/proxy server is most likely blocking the iChat video connection ports.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93208
iChat uses ports: 5060, 5190, 5297, 5298, 5678, 16384 through 16403

2. When we are able to connect inside the firewall is all the video data packets going up to the Mac and AIM servers? We are concerned about security and having proprietary information outside the company.

iChat uses the AOL or .Mac servers to exchange contact information, and then iChat directly connects to the other Mac. All video or audio packets go point to point between the 2 Macs.

Only text messages get routed via the AIM or .Mac servers.

3. Can Windows users connect to a Mac user who is iChat? Is there iChat for Windows or something similar.

Text messaging via AIM is very easy.

Video via AIM client for Windows-XP (but not older Windows versions).

Not sure if iChat will do just audio with AIM on Windows-XP.

I think there may be other services that may provide a similar service to iChat, but since I'm happy with iChat I have bothered to remember them when mentioned :-)

I am trying to do the same thing now and have had some success. I was able to chat with my win 200 laptop running trillian pro (using an aol account) and my friend's mac running iChat / iSight. I was using a usb cam on the windows laptop and it worked fine. The video quality was not that great, but it worked. Oddly enough when I tried to use the actual AOL Triton client on the windows machine it did not work. This kind of stinks as trillian pro is $25. I'm pretty sure that the free trillian does not suport video. I'd prefer it if the native aol client worked since I can then install it or have friends install it on other machines more easily (free).



4. My last question I just answered on my own, which is I can use my Sony Camcorder with iChat, it doesn't have to be an iSight camera.

Right. You might want to remove the recording media. Some Camcorders automatically turn off if not recording after about 5 minutes. Without the tape, it stays on.

Any help would be appreciated, as you can tell I'm new to iChat.

Thanks

Bob Harris


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: iChat firewall question
    ... his .mac account and I used my AIM account and we connected fine. ... He said when he has tried in the past he cannot make an iChat connection ...
    (comp.sys.mac.system)
  • Re: iChat firewall question
    ... his .mac account and I used my AIM account and we connected fine. ... He said when he has tried in the past he cannot make an iChat connection ...
    (comp.sys.mac.system)
  • Re: AIM
    ... AIM on a Mac is useless. ... It works better than iChat for most things, ... Unlike AOL's Mac AIM client, ... That includes video to users on Windows who are using AIM. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.system)
  • Re: Skype video call Mac/PC
    ... How does it compare with iChat and AIM between a Mac and a PeeCee? ...
    (uk.comp.sys.mac)
  • Re: q: video chat with windows?
    ... My brother in law uses a Mac and iChat via a ... Balcab connection. ...
    (uk.comp.sys.mac)