Regular connection could not go through. Trying alternative

Problem:

I see the message "Regular connection did not go through. Trying alternative." in my chat window when I try to log in. What does it mean?

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Solution:

You will see the "Regular connection did not go through. Trying alternative." message appear in the chat window when your firewall is configured to block traffic to the TCP/IP port used by the ParaChat room to communicate with the ParaChat server. ParaChat hosted services will automatically utilize HTTP Tunneling for firewall support by trying a secondary, or alternative, connection using HTTP protocol. These connection attempts are also reflected in your web browser's Java Console, which will display:

connecting to host7.parachat.com:8543...

connecting to host7.parachat.com:8080...

Your firewall would need to be configured to permit TCP/IP traffic over port 8543, or HTTP traffic over port 8080, so that you can connect to the chat server from behind your firewall using one of these two available protocols.

Be certain to review the data contained in your web browser's Java Console for specific port and host information for the chat room to which you are connecting so that your firewall can be configured to permit a connection to the correct ParaChat server and correct ports.