Getting RA2 to work on my network!

Hi guys, can anyone help me with a problem im having? I got my network up and running the other day so I could play some games with my brother. Setting it up was easy enough, in no time we were playing UT and doom. Then I decided to play RA2, i've had it running on the network before but I remember it being abit of a problem.

Can I get it to work? Can I hell! I've tried everything I can think off, I know it uses the ipx protocol so i've tried to set all the parameters on the NWlink ipx/spx/netBIOS screen the internal network number has been set to 00000000 for both machines, frame type is ethernet 802.2 for both (i've also tried 802.3), and the network number is 00000001 and 000000002 for the two machines (i've tried setting both of them to be the same but it doesnt help).

On the network option screen for RA2 i've set the network adapters to be either 00000001:xxxxxxx or 00000002:xxxxxx where xxxx is the MAC address for that computer. The port number is 12 (just a random number) and the network number is 00.00.00.00 I can see my bro in the lobby and if we change our names it updates on the other computer in realtime BUT we cannot use the chat or create games!

Then I downloaded hamachi (I never used this last time I got it working) and tried it that way using the info from this site: http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Red-Alert-2-over-the-Internet
I left my REAL network settings the same and changed the hamachi network settings to: internal net num 00000000 but left the frame type as auto-detect. I go back into RA2 and selected the network adapter 00000000:7A79xxxx THIS IS THE SAME FOR BOTH MACHINES the port number and network number are left blank this time. I connect to the lobby and I can see the other person but we still cannot speak or join games!

If it helps, i've got both computers connected to a netgear DG348 router, we can use the internet independantly of eachother and can share files no problem. We can test the network using DirectPlay8 TCP/IP service provider and that works fine, however using DirectPlay8 IPX service provider doesnt seem to work I can create a seesion but the other comp cannot see it, leading me to believe the problem lies there but I cant see what it would be.

Any help would be appreciated!