I can log in but I can not join a server?

Hello.

My friend is trying very hard to join us. But sadly something is going very wrong for him. He can log into wow. But as soon as he tries to join a server he gets timed out and fails. Here is a list of the things we have tried.

It is not hes copy of the game. He downloaded it twice with the result always the same.

It is not hes log in because he tried using my account with the same result.

It is not the computer because he tried it on two separate machines.

There are no firewalls effecting wow.

It is not the IPS because he tried on two separate ISP.

As you can see he has tried a number of things. He really wants to join us. Also he is a coder so not some computer illiterate kid.

I honestly cant think what it might be? The only theory we have is that it might be because he is in South Africa and we are in the UK??? But we dont really have any why of checking that since VPNs are not allowed.

Any thoughts?

Cheers