When i set LW to use UPnP i get a very good connection but poor speeds and connections to other people.
When i use manual port forward (all set up correctly) the connection status gets no further than "Starting Connection"
I'm no network expert!

Can you give us a total description of your set up:
1. OS version? (eg: Windows 98)
2. What firewalls you have?
3. How much ram?
4. Hard Disk space available?
5. Connection type? (eg: dialup, broadband, cable, etc.)
6. Modem & router brand name & model numbers?
7. Where are you trying to connect from (home, school, work, etc.)?
8. What version of Limewire (LW) & Java do you have? (Go to LW's menu Help>About LW...) Will show both LW & Java version.
9. Who is your isp provider (Internet Service Provider)?
10. Are you sharing the connection with other computers or p2p sharing programs? If yes, please give details of set up.
11. Try downloading a magnet link from here & tell us what speeds you get: http://www.magnetmix.com/video.shtml
12. Choose nearest location for a speed test & only have your browser open: http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/speedtest/ Post back your results.

1. XP
2. 840 RAM
3. Win firewall, LW ports in exceptions list
4. 44GB
5. Broadband
6. BT Voyager 2100
7. Home
8. LW 4.11 and Java 1.5
9. Pipex
10. WLAN - 2 PCs and laptop
11. Nothing happening!
12. Down = 82.76KB/sec
Up = 30.13KB/sec

ok....I now have a "Fair Connection"...?
So, it goes from "Starting Connection" for days to "Fair Connection" by doing absolutely nothing. Machines these days.

Do you see a brick wall in front of the blue world icon at the bottom of LW's interface?

I don't, no. However, something must be right as download speeds are soaring!

My thoughts are you'd be better off port forwarding. AFAIK about BT Voyagers, they are better of port forwarded. If you are willing to take the plunge, then see Port Forwarding for the BT Voyager 2091 (same instructions as yours) with the most important step being the first, which is setting up a static ip.

Edit: OH ... ok ... if it's ok now then fine!

But if you're running XP with SP2 you might want to use one of these patches: MS & 3rd party patches

I've done that