Router Port Forwarding Issue

[TricolourHawk]

Hi all,

Having read some comments from older posts regarding ports being closed by default, I have thought to give a try an open a range for future projects, including servers - webdev, games etc.

I followed the official instructions and what others have suggested in these forums, and it seems regardless what port I am trying to open, be it a specific port, eg - 150 or given a range, eg - 50000-60000, any of these online tools canyouseeme or yougetsignal are reporting back stating the ports are closed.

Tech details: Router model - VF stock THG3000

SSID's - Split into 2, one for 5GHz devices and another one for 2,4GHz

Firmware version - latest as far as I am aware.

Method for opening the port/s - IPV4 Mapping->Static Mapping->Internal Port/s corresponding with the External Port/s

I am aware that some users have reported back that port forwarding with the stock model does work, while others have given a negative feedback. Ideally I would like to break through this blocker with the current setup, before looking into buying a 3rd party router.

Any suggestions or ideas how to proceed?

Many thanks

[TricolourHawk]

Adding more to the original post. 

I am attempting to port forward with my main desktop machine that is wired connected, where VF port mapping is picking my machine's local IP. 

Even when I am trying to scan all the common ports that are used for different usages, eg - 21, 22, etc, yougetsignal says all of them are closed. 

[Ripshod]

What is the first octet of your public IP? It's possible you may be on CGNAT, meaning you may have to rely on IPv6. 

[TricolourHawk]

Hi Ripshod, great seeing you here. Your name showed up in a few posts that helped me with other things,hah!

The first octet is 81, hope that helps to narrow the issue.

[Cynric]

@TricolourHawk Some well-known ports cannot be mapped. If you are being told that everything is closed have you turned off IGMP so that the router is refusing all incoming ping? 

You could try an alternative test from here https://www.grc.com/default.htm using the ShieldsUp tool. Moderator please note that the GRC site is safe.

[TricolourHawk]

Hi Cynric, I am not sure where I could check about IGMP and by extension I don't have the answer if it's closed or open.

I have given a test with ShieldUp and it feedback the machine did not respond to any of their upnp probes. From the looks of it, it's a good thing, I suppose?

[Cynric]

@TricolourHawkIn the network settings there should be a tickbox for whether the router responds to ping. If it is "off" for external (i.e. WAN) then some of the tools may not be able to assess that a port is open or not.

[TricolourHawk]

Hi Cynric, I have checked the setting and turned it on. It was under Internet->Firewall->Allow Ping to WAN.

Sadly, the setting has no effect, none of the common ports or the custom port that I have opened work. 

[Cynric]

@TricolourHawk  Thanks for trying. Turning on ping would only help with diagnostics, it doesn't do anything with regards to opening/closing ports themselves.

[Ripshod]

81 does not correspond to cgnat which is good. What's bad is I use my own router now so I can't really help much with the settings on the vf offering.

Maybe I'll dust it off one day and refresh my memory 😉