Q: Messages video chat won't connect

Lets say that I went to a friends house and connected to their wifi, would it work then?

Maybe.

Restart your router. Connect to another network. Connect to another chat server. Reinstall OS X.

How do I connect to another chat server?

By opening an account on another server, and messaging someone with an account on that server.

Messages (Mountain Lion): Video chatting

An IM service, like the ones mentioned in the article I linked to. Please read that article, and others linked to it, to gain a basic understanding of what you can do with Messages. See also:

Messages (Mountain Lion): Fix video chat issues

Hi Linc,

I have also suggested a Reinstall of the OS or even a Download of the COMBO OS X 10.8.4 update as a first alternative.

I thought this poster wanted to move to a private conversation.

He has been emailing me as well as keeping this thread going.

I have explained that the Video (And Audio Only) chats use different ports over the internet and they have to be opened  for the IP his computer has.

He says the owner of the house set up the router some years ago and "has not  changed anything".

(I had suggested some hardware or firmware may have changed.)

8:04 PM      Monday; July 1, 2013

  iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.4)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

I see no point in pursuing this matter on parallel tracks, so I'll leave it to you. Port forwarding is not required for any function of Messages. What Apple loosely calls "full-cone NAT" is required, and not all routers support it. If you reach a resolution with the OP, please update this thread.

HI Linc,

Understood.

The original iChat Document on ports is here

There was a later document numbered 306688 that I can't find now that listed some changes for later versions.

iChat 5 brought about the Network Status tab in the Connection Doctor.

The last three combined Modem/routers I have had  have all reported "Port Restricted".

A Netgear DG834G, a Sagem Fast2504 with ISP firmware on it from Sky.com and my current "Sky Hub" (completely branded box) used with a Fibre service.

An Apple Base Station (of any sort) is one of the few I know of they report "Full Cone" in the Conection Doctor.

Having said that I have never found the "Port Restricted" any bar to me Video Chatting in iChat or Messages.

It has seemed to me that Full Cone is only a preference rather than an absolute requirement.

@ 18smithc

Is there any chance the Internet service has had an increase in Speed ?

Some routers feature DOS and SPI "protection" filters (Denial of Service and Stateful Packet Inspection).

The DOS "threshold" is set high enough to allow Video streaming sites but will tend to effect 1-1 Peer to Peer Video chats that can end up sending vast amounts of more data.

SPI relies on "inspecting" the data packets using the router's processor which quickly gets overwhelmed.

The result for both methods is to cut the one port that involves the large data stream to "protect" the rest of the connection.

9:36 PM      Monday; July 1, 2013

  iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.4)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Hi all,

The latest email says the person went to the Apple Store and "they  fixed it" with no details on what was done.

8:12 PM      Tuesday; July 2, 2013

  iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.4)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

If you can pry any more information out of the OP, it will be a service to the community.

It seems my last email (about the fact an update does not delete any User info) managed to keep appearing in the Drafts folder.

As  result I seem to have managed to send it three times.

The last two replies have had the info about the Apple Store so I doubt I am going to get any more info via that route.

6:57 PM      Wednesday; July 3, 2013

  iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.4)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously