HowTo: Configure FPL with AVG Firewall 9

[kidcoconut]

Have been beating my head against a wall for about a week trying to get FPL to work; finally figured it out. So hopefully these rough notes will help others.

Environment:
- winxp 64 bit
- avg 9 firewall
- pc - router - dsl modem

Symptoms:
- any combination of no outgoing sound, or
- no incoming sound
- softphone test fails, with a msg about no sound communication through port 13000

Likely Cause(s):
- Improperly configured firewall to allow inbound/outbound TCP/UDP communication for the FreePhoneLine.exe
- AVG for some reason blocks inbound communication on port 13000, unless a user-defined system rule is configured

Assumptions:
- you have tested that your headset/microphone is in proper working order using some other online validation method (stream audio, stream voice)
- you have confirmed that you do not have any sound card hw issue, or config problem

Quick Solution:
[Add Application Rules]
- open firewall settings
- select the firewall profile associated with the active network adapter
- traverse the applications topology; select FreePhoneLine
- change application action to 'advanced settings'
- I added two application rules; first my FreephoneLine TCP rule; TCP, Both Ways, Unrestricted local ports, Remote Port 80, for All Networks/remote addresses
- second my FreePhoneline UDP rule; UDP, Both Ways, Unrestricted local ports, unrestricted remote ports, for All Networks/remote addresses
[Add User System Service Rule]
- next; go back to the firewall profile topology and traverse to System Services
- click manage user system rules; add a user-defined rule; I called mine 'FreePhoneLine 13000 In' ; UDP, Inbound, 13000 local port, unrestricted remote port, for all networks/remote addresses
- all should be well at this point; once you have proven that everything works go to the Cleanup section

Other tips (may be necessary; no really; I observed some flakiness all round):
- restart FreePhoneLine between firewall changes
- release/restore the network interface between firewall changes
- reboot your pc for good measure

Troubleshooting:
- enable logging of unknown incoming traffic in AVG (this was turned off by default in mine); it pointed out exactly which ports were blocked

Cleanup:
- modify your application rules so that the (remote) ports are narrowed down to FreePhoneLine's specs

Closing Comments:
- I found that even after i got everything working, my softphone test still failed. If anyone has any clues on this, please let me know.

Again, I hope this saves someone else the aggro. Enjoy.

Cheers.

>>> update

btw, forgot to mention that no port forwarding was necessary, and UPnP was enabled on the router