• Guide to Home Networking
  How to set up your own home network quickly and painlessly.
• Routers and Xbox Live
  Everything you need to know about routers on Xbox Live.
• Diagnosing Xbox Live Connections
  Use the Xbox Dashboard to solveICMP, MTU, and NAT issues.
• Lose the Lag
  We've got a few pointers to help you avoid laggy games and host lag-free ones

Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)

What is ICMP?

For a great experience, your router or gateway must properly handle a certain type of Internet traffic called ICMP port unreachable traffic. ICMP stands for Internet Control Message Protocol. It’s not important that you know much about ICMP, but you should be sure your home gateway or router properly handles this kind of traffic.

How does ICMP traffic influence Xbox Live?

If your router does not handle ICMP traffic properly, you won’t be able to connect to Xbox Live.

How can I tell if my home network properly handles ICMP traffic?

With the latest update of the Xbox Dashboard, you can now determine whether your router or home gateway is handling ICMP traffic properly!

To see your ICMP test results in the Xbox Dashboard

1. Select Xbox Live to sign in to Xbox Live from the Xbox Dashboard.
2. From the Connect Status screen, press the Y button on your controller.
3. Press the A button to see diagnostic information. Find IC: x, where xis your ICMP test result of either 0 or 1. 0 means your router or home gateway has failed the ICMP test and is not compatible with Xbox Live. 1 means your router or home gateway has passed the ICMP test, and you’re good to go for Xbox Live!

What if my device doesn’t properly handle ICMP traffic?

If the IC value is 0, the test failed and your device is not properly handling ICMP packets. Typically this is not a setting you can change, though you may be able to update your device’s firmware from the device manufacturer.