Open NAT PS3 MW3/Actiontec Q1000

REJOICE, THE HOUR IS AT HAND, the hour of having an open NAT that is!

After countless hours configuring my Q1000 modem/router, I have finally obtained an open NAT on my PS3. The process is quit simple, and I honestly just missed one little step, and that step would have saved me hours upon hours of trying to get an open NAT.

First off, I want everyone to know that I have all three consoles (I mean who doesn't, and if you don't why not?). I want to bring to light that, I had an open NAT on my Xbox, but always had a moderate NAT on the PS3. Well, I had black ops for both systems, but I only have MW3 for the PS3 so that is the system I wanted my open NAT on.

I will start off by saying it is very difficult to have an open NAT for two systems connected to the same router. Actually I want to go ahead and just say its not possible, and here is why. 98.9% of home users have cable/dsl and with that, only one public IP address. This isn't something to be worried about, that is just how it goes. Well with one public IP address, you can only have one system with an open NAT. You could call your ISP and get two IP addresses, but that costs some cash and if you're like me, you are not willing to dish out even one more cent to the man! So therefore, you are stuck with your single public IP address, and two systems (I do have all three, but I don't play multiplayer on the Wii, so that isn't an issue). Ok, enough of this rambling and background blah blah, on to the fun stuff!

*Disclaimer, only perform the below listed steps if you are the owner of the router, or get permission from the owner (this applies to all you youngsters still living with the parents). I am not responsible for any issues your router may have by performing the steps I will list below, nor will I buy you a new router if you break it (which is highly doubtful but hey, I work in the IT field, I have seen stranger stuff happen).*

I want to say that, what I will discuss will be with the assumption that you have some IT knowledge. I am not talking about building Virtual Servers from ground up or deploying a bran new Domain controller on a network with 300+ employees (which I can do, allllll yeahhhhh). But enough knowledge to know how to access your router.

Unless you changed something, then your router IP will probably be 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. Type this address (or your address) into your web browser URL and hit enter. If neither of these address work, on your home computer go to Start>Run (XP) Search(Vista and up)>'type' cmd>'type' ipconfig in the cmd window. You're looking for Default Gateway, that address should get you into your router.

Be sure to enable a static IP address for the PS3, if you do not know out to do this, do a Google search and get it done before reading on.


This will bring you to the router configuration page/s. Look for UPnP configuration page, and ensure that this is enabled. Before reading the below steps, look for DMZ configuation page. Remember that static IP you just gave to your PS3, well enter here and enable DMZ mode. What this will do, is place the PS3 outside of the router and use the public IP address directly. Load up MW3 and look at your NAT, if this does not work, remove the PS3 from the DMZ (this is important) and disable the DMZ and read on.

If the DMZ option failed, what we are looking for is port forwarding now. Find and enter onto the port forwarding page. Here are the ports you will want to forward for MW3:

"...

• Set port forwarding on your router to the IP address of your PlayStation 3. This game uses ports 81, 3074, 3075, 3478, 3479
  (UDP) and ports 80, 443, 3074, 5223 (TCP).
• For voice / video chat and online game play, direct communication with other PS3™ systems is used for data transmission during voice / video chat and online gaming. The port number used for this is UDP: 3658

..."

Original source: http://activision.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/activision.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=77659&p_created=1320244623&p_sid=G49GniIk&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_srch=1&p_lva=77658&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MSwxJnBfcHJvZHM9MCZwX2NhdHM9JnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9YW5zd2Vycy5zZWFyY2hfbmwmcF9wYWdlPTEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD03NzY1OQ!!&p_li=&p_topview=1

and here are the ports in general for the PS3 system:

TCP Ports: 80, 443, 465, 983, 5223, and 10070 - 10080 - UDP Ports: 3478, 3479, 3658, and 10070


Also remember that, when setting port forwarding, "for a single port Port Start, Port End, and Port Map are all the same number. For a range of ports, Port Start is the first port of the range. Port End is the last port of the range and Port Map is ALWAYS the same as Port Start (Source: Actiontec Tech support e-mail)."

So for example, if you have a range of ports, like 3074 and 3075, you would enter it like this

Port Start: 3074
Port End: 3075
Port Map: 3074

Single Port exmaple:

Port Start: 80
Port End: 80
Port Map: 80

Now that you have your port mappings, let me give you a little tip. You cannot have two ports open for two different systems. One will cancel the other out. If you have port 3074 mapped for your Xbox and PS3, which ever one is listed first, will take priority. This is what plagued my moderate NAT for the PS3, because my Xbox had 3074 mapped first. After removing the Xbox map, my PS3 had an open NAT and my Xbox has a moderate.

If you have any questions, please leave me a comment below and I will answer to the best of my ability, and if time permits I might even be able to offer assistance to you. Enjoy your open NAT on the PS3 system for MW3!!!!