Telnet & MSN Problems

[NyQuil]

I am using a LinkSys BEFSR41 router.

I find that my connections to both telnet (through a MUSH client) and MSN are intermittent, and disconnect periodically.

If I reconnect, I have no problems, but the connection will drop again later on. On occasion, it will happen within a minute or so of reconnecting, and I'll be forced to log in again.

I understand that this could be a port issue.

As I understand it, port 21 is assigned for telnet? How do I ensure that this port is open.

I have access to the admin options on the router, but have not figured out how to open port 21.

[NyQuil]

Oh, I'm using a DSL connection and a switch connected to the router.

[Respice]

Telnet uses port 23. FTP uses port 21. You may want to capture the traffic of your telnet session. You can use a variety of packet sniffers to do this, a popular one is Ethereal. You may be receiving RST or reset packets from the telnet server.