Whats your NAT type? Do you know? You can find out by  testing your Xbox live connection VIA the dashboard.

(Xbox Home>Settings>system>network>test Xbox live Conection)

Both of our NAT settings are set to open. One of the first things we checked.

If you have a twitter spam the hell out of XboxSupport since no one can fix this problem and the next time someone says "Check your NAT" I'm going to flip out. Its broken on the Xbox side and NO ONE has acknowledged this problem except the hundreds on this very forum everyday almost resulting in "DUR CHECK YOUR NATS" as the top answer while everyone tells them to shut up.

Hey there Crimsoncat! I just wanted to clarify that this friend is the only person you are having issues connecting to, correct? Also, how do you have your network connection set up? Do you have a router in addition to your modem, and are you wired or wirelessly connected? Same with your friend. Let us know, thanks!

Well this has happened multiple times actually. But sometimes it's as if the problem resolves itself. With other friends anyway. But so far it hasn't in this instance.  My friend and I haven't been able to create a party together since he got Live. It's a real pain. And we both have modems connected to routers. And we're both wire connected.

The same has been happening with me. I have done all the steps as told in the NAT trouble shoot and it has done nothing. I've done everything, but really I think the issue is with xbox live. I have friends that cannot connect with their own friends too. The Call of Duty servers say my NAT is open and I have even checked with the network test. They all say I have an open  NAT with no limited connectivity. I am using a wired connection too.

I love that you Support guys are trying to help us but could you please send this to the higher ups? This only started happening with the new Dash release, so for about a month or two. I've tried everything, I've called, tweeted and no help on this subject. Like I said before, these topics have been popping up ALL over this forum.

Me and my friend have:

Rebooted routers, modems, xbox's a ton.

Reset router and modems to factory settings several times.

Reset all Xbox network settings several times.

DMZ's, Port Forwarded, SAME settings as before.

We both have same ISP, not the problem since same local friends all have same ISP.

NAT's are always OPEN.

Its a problem with Xbox Live and its ruining my experience. I've had XBL for 8 years and can say this honestly is the only time I've been annoyed by something. Would love to see this fixed soon.

Hey everyone! First thing, if you are experiencing this or a similar issue, it will help us out to create your own thread detailing your issue. This will help us keep cases sorted and allow us to give you our full attention. It will also help if you check out our Communication (forums.xbox.com/.../19135.aspx) and NAT (forums.xbox.com/.../34069.aspx) guides before posting to ensure that you have tried these steps. Please include what you have tried in your post.

Crimsoncat: Can you and your friend try connecting directly to the modems and leave the routers out for now. Does this help you at all? Also, what ISPs do you both have? Let me know, thanks!

Alright we both tried connecting to XBL without using the routers. And we couldn't even connect. And in regards to our ISPs I honestly don't know. I think it's tisd.net. But I'm not sure. I'm pretty new to virtually all things Xbox Live. Modems and routers. NAT settings. Leaves me pretty confused man. lol.

This has been happening a lot at my school as well. Last semester our xbox's were able to connect with no problem. Since coming back for spring (nothing was changed to our school's network), we have not been able to connect with others who are using the same connection in the same building.

We've followed the "steps for dummies" on simple ways to fix the problem, but these steps have not lead us to a successful connection.

A day ago, we also had trouble connecting to age of the empires online as well. I'm unsure if this is all a microsoft related issue or what, but it needs to be fixed. Not being able to play with dorm mates are going to make a lot of unhappy people.

hahahaha ive had this problem a few months now not bein able to communicate with 5 friends ive opened forums spoke to xbox spoke to everyone and all i ever get is check your nat and create your own forum hahah its crap xbox has no idea on this fault which is why they stopped answering comments and set up ambassodors which anyone can become by a couple of clicks!!! 1st of all its not NAT settings at all thats crap! and if you didnt take 4 days to answer posts maybe people would create a post for themselfs but i had my own post for 2 weeks with a big explanation on what had happend i had 2 half hearted replys from xbox sayin check the usuall crap even thow id explained in full id done all these steps twice already in the end the admin replyed to recheck again and closed my post down!!! thats what you get for opening your own post!!!!

i will be posting an official complaint as im not happy at all with the customer care and support its not acceptable especially as we pay a subscribtion fee for this service and they carnt even be bothered to talk without going through these stupid forms with any tom *** or harry replying to problems is this really how microsoft treat there paying customes????

http://forums.xbox.com/xbox_forums/xbox_support/f/26/p/149335/771937.aspx#771937 -  this is my post that was closed

p.s for the xbox admin that read this i will continue to post my problem on peoples forums and be very negative towards xbox untill one of you contacts me direct im sick of trying to contact you now!!

Thanks for the response Crimsoncat! The reason I ask about the ISP is that some of them have their own NAT settings that are built in to the modems and cannot be changed by the end user (you). If you haven't already, I would suggest contacting your ISP to see if they have any information relating to NAT or the Xbox console specifically. Please let me know what you find out, thanks!

My friend and  I have been having this same problem. We live in Australia, My ISP is Optus, and his is Telstra. It has only happened since the release of the new dashboard (home).

We have tried to reset our routers, port forward everything. Tried changing from wireless, to wires, restarting our modems. Pretty much tried everything possible. I have this problem with a couple of people now, it only started off with one person, but now I can only connect to a handful of people. It gets rather annoying some times, as we require a middleman if we wish to talk over xbox live party.

And I am with dobby2009, if this problem is not resolved soon, I will be filing an official complain and requesting a refund, as I am a paying customer, and I am not even recieving full benifits of being so.

And as to why this account has no gamerscore or any previous played games as such, It's because my other account is registered with gmail, and I can not log on here with g-mail. It's another rather annoying thing.

Same thing here! Exact same providers and all ports and Nat is open. Its only my friend and I that cannot connect. Is there a solution yet?