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[Noobcraft]

Yes. I am running the same setup, router > wired > switch > wired to multiple devices.


Is your modem just a modem or is it a combo device (has WiFi)? Can all your devices connected to the switch go online at the same time?

As far as I know multiple devices can connect at the same time. The consoles are all on the same TV so I never use more than one at a time, but I did let my brother play TLOU remastered in snap mode (xb1) while I played PvZ GW on the TV once so I think all the devices can go online at once.

And my modem is in fact, just a standard modem with 1 Ethernet port.

* I'm currently staying with my parents in between college semesters and my dad has business class internet in our house so we might get more than 1 IP address...? I'm not a networking guy which is why I use the switch instead of fooling around with DMZ's and port forwarding.

 

[SMOK3Y]

Subbing to read later, but I'd like to get rid of NAT 2, hopefully not hijacking the thread

Only way I can get NAT 1 is by hooking a separate router for wifi to my (cable router putting into bridged mode) then plug my PS4/3 into it the bridged cable modem

 

[Stantron]

Having some experiences with NAT I must say that the best way to get it sorted permanently would to contact your ISP. There are just too many variables. They might have an extra firewall on their side, your router might not be up to snuff etc. I suggest you give them a call and say (or lie) that you've done something already. Also if you can, I'd avoid mentioning Playstation. That might prompt them to pass the buck to Sony.

Call my ISP provider and say what exactly? "Please remove any firewalls associated with my service"?

You are under the exact scenario I'm describing. Set you wrt box to be an access point.

You won't be able to use the majority of the features while it is an access point mode because a lot of them occur during the actual routing phase. If you or your ISP can set the modem to bridge mode then you can utilize all the features of your wrt router.

UPnP only makes sense on the device handling routing/NAT.

Thanks for the info. It seems like my modem (Motorola SBG6580) is capable of bridge mode. I need to disable something called NAPT mode.
Good to know I can still access all dd-wrt features when the router is in access point mode and the modem is in bridge mode. I'm still going to do a little more research before I do this. I want to make sure I get it right, and there are a lot of things I still don't fully understand. Also, my router stopped working this morning for some strange reason. I can't even access the dd wrt gui when I enter 192.168.1.1 from a browser. It was working last night. I'll need to get that sorted out first.

NAT type 3 is the only thing you should NOT be at on a console.

Static IP for the console on your router, manually set your console to said static IP.
Use a DMZ on said Static IP(router), and when manually setting the consoles IP, use a free, public DNS, that has a low ping in your area.(only change this on the console, not your router)

Your ISP may have the best ping, but it is unlikely in a lot of cases.

Is a faster DNS supposed to improve your ping? What would be considered a good ping for console gaming? My xbone usually shows about 30-40 ms ping.

Apparently, Google has a program to check for fastest DNS servers. Link HERE.
When I ran the test (which takes about 7min) the results tell me that OpenDNS is 35.3% faster on IP 208.67.220.220.
Next fastest is Level 3 which is 6.6% faster on IP 4.2.2.4. Then it's 192.168.1.1 which the default. Interestingly, Google's public DNS IP 8.8.8.8 is about 7% slower.
So based on these results, I manually set up DNS in the xbox network menu like this:
Primary: 208.67.220.220
Secondary: 4.2.2.4
Did I do this correctly? Also, why should I only change this on the console, and not the router? I would think that you'd want the fastest connection for both.

 

[notoriousKTR]

Is a faster DNS supposed to improve your ping?

Nope. DNS is like a phone book...it translates human-friendly URLs to IP addresses. For example, is it easier to remember "neogaf.com" or "67.227.255.239"?

What would be considered a good ping for console gaming? My xbone usually shows about 30-40 ms ping.

Good pings is 80ms and below.

 

[M3d10n]

Nope. DNS is like a phone book...it translates human-friendly URLs to IP addresses. For example, is it easier to remember "neogaf.com" or "67.227.255.239"?

There's something called "DNS geolocation", which allows different IP addresses to be returned for a domain name depending on the client's IP geolocation. Big services like Google and CDNs use that to point users to the nearest servers at the name resolution phase.

A shitty DNS server may not have the feature enabled or a US-based (for example) DNS server may return US-based IPs first even if you use it outside the US. Getting directed to a domain in another continent might put you in a bad route. This won't affect ping in online games, but it can affect download speeds.

 

[careless mango]

There's something called "DNS geolocation", which allows different IP addresses to be returned for a domain name depending on the client's IP geolocation. Big services like Google and CDNs use that to point users to the nearest servers at the name resolution phase.

A shitty DNS server may not have the feature enabled or a US-based (for example) DNS server may return US-based IPs first even if you use it outside the US. Getting directed to a domain in another continent might put you in a bad route. This won't affect ping in online games, but it can affect download speeds.

It'll definitely make a difference when it comes to accessing websites not in the local DNS cache.

 

[Sapiens]

Does anyone know how to get nat1 on a pa3 through an AirPort Extreme router?

 

[glaurung]

ISP needs to allow open ports.

Plus a router that is not a complete piece of shit. I recently replaced my own router. With the old model, I had strictest NAT on all consoles and I could barely connect to one third of Warframe matches.

It's smooth as butter now.

 

[knitoe]

Does anyone know how to get nat1 on a pa3 through an AirPort Extreme router?

You can't. Have to connect your PS3 directly to the modem, and thus, totally bypassing the router.

 

[Sapiens]

You can't. Have to connect your PS3 directly to the modem, and thus, totally bypassing the router.

I guess that'll be the only way to get a decent connection rating in KoF13 then - oh well. Fuckin' SNK.

 

[notoriousKTR]

Does anyone know how to get nat1 on a pa3 through an AirPort Extreme router?

Apple calls DMZ as "default host."

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5134

 

[Stantron]

Another question regarding putting my modem (Motorola SBG6580) into bridge mode. My router seems to not be working at the moment, so I was wondering if putting my modem into bridge mode would still allow me to use the modem's ports to connect directly to my console or PC. Or does a bridge mode modem require the router's ports for (wired) connections?

 

[Koren]

People using DMZ...stop. DMZ is like the most insecure thing ever. There should never be a case where DMZ is necessary for a game to function online (unless its super smash bros brawl lol)
Just open a port for the game manually.

I fully agree (even if I don't remember a single console hack via the network?)

And when you have a server at home you need to reach from the outside, DMZing something brings even more issues and problems. Same if you've several consoles.

That being said, it can be a pain to know which ports you have to open and redirect.

Are homeplugs an option for you? Better connection than WiFi and Ethernet solved my NAT Type problems too.

Homeplugs (Ethernet over Power Lines) can be awful at time. I've been using them for 4 years now, each 2-3 months, a plug simply stop working for no reason... It seems to be loosely related to trafic, but that's not the only cause.


I unplug the plug, let it cool for a couple hours, spend a day shuffling all the plugs in the house, running diagnostic programs that tells me nothing (signal is going up and down without reasons) and two days later it's working again.

A MiMo WiFi bridge (modem >ethernet> router >ethernet> bridge )))))Wifi))))) bridge > ethernet > computer) is probably a better, although complex to setup properly, solution.

For those reasons, I've REALLY wanted to cable my house, but that means a LOT of holes in walls, and the fact that for stupid reasons you can't put ethernet cables in wood panels at the bottom of the walls (Fire risks from RJ45? Really ?), it's even more heavy work.


I'm happy that my consoles and my modem/router are in the same room, I'll only use ethernet for most things (squeezeboxes are the only exceptions (besides laptops), I can't possibly draw cables everywhere).

 

[Deleted member 1235]

Why does NAT even exist? Genuine question. Always seemed a bit odd to me

Does NAT matter with dedicated servers?

You can't all have a public IP address they are running out!

 

[hikarutilmitt]

DO THIS:

1) Only open the ports you need. Most routers have an easy way of doing this and there are tutorials on sites on how to do this for various firmware/routers.

2) Set the common devices on your home network to use static IP assigned by the router itself.

3) Use the latest firmware for your router. Though less likely to be a factor, some of them don't handle traffic well depending on the specs. OpenWRT if you can, DD-WRT if it can work, default firmware if you must.




DO NOT DO THIS:

1) Do not set a static IP on your device, only on your router. Setting it on the device itself is bad practice because it may try to grab an IP that is already assigned to something else though DHCP. though this conflict isn't as big of an issue on home networks a lot of routers don't like being told what IP to use.

2) Do not use UPnP. It makes your life a tiny bit easier, but it's insecure, slow and generally not a good idea.

3) Set any devices to DMZ mode. While a console is usually far less susceptible to maliciousness, opening an device to DMZ opens all ports to the device which opens trouble.

4) Set up bridge mode for any devices unless you know what you'r doing and what it's for. It causes network headaches you may not be ready to diagnose.





GOOD PRACTICE (which may not matter much to your overall gaming experience, but is nice to have just in case):


1) Set your router to have static DNS servers to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. This will cause it to use Google DNS instead of your ISP's (likely crappy) DNS servers. You can also setup 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 as backups or 3rd and 4th DNS servers, as OpenDNS is reliabela dn useful.

2) Get a good router. A lot of routers these days will do the trick, but if you're running a lot of devices, get one with a decent amount of RAM, a decent CPU and the features you need from a reliable brand like ASUS, Linksys/CISCO and Buffalo. Ditch the Belkin.

3) Hardwire if you can, as wifi gaming is ass (only a slight bias here). Homeplugs are actualyl useful for this on newer/good wiring and if you get a set of homeplugs that isn't terrible. You get what you pay for.

 

[Orca]

Still sticks me at type 2.

Dunno why

I had the same thing with my PS3. Turned out it was the router-modem combo Telus provided. Switched to a different router and was in the clear.

 

[knitoe]

Another question regarding putting my modem (Motorola SBG6580) into bridge mode. My router seems to not be working at the moment, so I was wondering if putting my modem into bridge mode would still allow me to use the modem's ports to connect directly to my console or PC. Or does a bridge mode modem require the router's ports for (wired) connections?

When you put a modem combo device into bridge mode, the router features are disable. Thus, you need a separate router for that. So, if you router is no longer working, remove / disconnect the router completely, disable bridge mode in the modem combo device and all wired connections should be attached to the modem. If you see that your performance is worse and/or experiencing connection issues, you have to get another router and go back to modem (bridge modem) > new router.

 

[Enco]

Oh man don't remind me.

Fucking NAT types and port forwarding should not fucking exist.

So many infuriating hours spent trying to get shitty online games to work with their shitty settings.

Man I hate that stuff. If I come across something that forces me to do a crapload of work to fix it now I just drop it.

 

[Stantron]

@knitoe Thanks for the info.
---------------

I tried doing the bridge mode thing but I think I screwed up something. Rather than try to resolve this I did a hard reset on my Motorola SBG6580 modem which put it back to factory default settings. I also did a hard reset on my Asus RT-N16 router which put it back to dd-wrt (Kong 22000) default settings, and it's working again.

Before I try bridge mode on the modem or connecting my console through the router agian, I decided to do an experiment to see what my connection would be if I connected directly from the modem (freshly hard reset) wired directly to the Xbone console (with CAT5 ethernet cable).

1) Console IP is set on automatic. That IP and MAC address is set to static on the modem. Console DNS is set with Google's 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. UPnP is enabled on the modem. DMZ mode is disabled. The following ports are forwarded:

Source for XBONE and CODghost ports recommended to forward. The SBG6580 modem ports are the same as xbox, however incorrectly listed as all open... I think.
Result: Xbone OS shows open NAT. CoD Ghosts in game lobby shows moderate NAT.

2) Same settings as above, but disable UPnP. I figured I would try this to see if UPnP was maybe conflicting with the forwarded ports. Same results.

3) Same settings as the first try (put UPnP back to enabled), but now I put the console's static IP into DMZ mode on the modem. Same results.

4) Same settings as the third try, but I disabled all port forwarding. Bingo! Now both the Xbone OS and Ghosts in game lobby shows an open NAT.

I don't understand this. Is there some other port that would need to be opened to get the non-DMZ settings to work?

I assume that I need to get this sorted out before doing the bridge mode thing, otherwise the modem (bridge mode) would cause a moderate NAT before a connection got to the router (access point mode), right?

For reference, HERE is the other options available to me in the modem's advanced settings page. Also, I turned off IPv4 Firewall Protection for all cases.

Another observation is that under each of these settings, when I test the connection on the Xbone network settings menu, I got ~25-40 Mbps down and 11 Mbps up. My actual bandwidth speeds are ~100 Mbps down and 11 Mbps up. Don't know why it's so much lower. EDIT: After all of the above, I took off the static IP, which caused the xbone to choose another IP. Tested connection now gave me full 100 Mbps down. Then I put static IP back on and manually set IP on the console. Tested connection gave me full 100 Mbps down again. So I guess I needed to set console IP manually too.

Sorry for the wall of text. Hopefully I can get this figured out. ;_;