HomeFusion - Open NAT?

[jcaaron]

Does anybody have any experience running xbox live or PSN with the HomeFusion?  From reading the FAQ/manual/forums it appears that the HomeFusion does have a public IP and appropriate port forwarding, however before I take a serious look at this I'd like to see if anybody can confirm that this works (with an open NAT).

Thanks.

[John_Getzke]

JC,

The entire 4G LTE network is behind a NAT and VZW does not disable it even if you request them to.  The only work around is to purchase a static IP from Verizon for several hundered dollars.  Homefusion is on the same 4G LTE network as Verizon's smartphones and mobile broadband devices and thus has the same limitations.

I believe you will be able to play XBox on the 4G LTE network.  However, you will not be able to host games as other XBox users will not be able to find you.

[jcaaron]

Thanks for the reply.  I'm going to go ahead and give this a try.  I'll post what I find out. 

Even if I do end up with strict NAT on Xbox Live I am ready to give something else a try.  I have "extended" DSL, 0.8mb/s and if it rains anywhere in 250miles I lose connection.  I have been using a HSPA+ AT&T card to do anything that requires more bandwidth, but can't get rid of the DSL with only 5gig of data a month.  I'm the perfect location for this service.  I live relatively close to town, easily in LTE coverage, but 0.5 miles too far for cable (cable is actually 0.5 miles on either side of my house).

[jcaaron · Accepted solution]

Good news.  I had HomeFusion installed today.  Getting excellent bandwidth since I am very close to a LTE tower.  23.37Mbps/10.49Mbps (66ms ping).  The good news is that I can report you do get a dynamic external IP with HomeFusion.  This allows you to configure the router just like a typical router.  So when I first hooked up my xbox I had a Moderate NAT.  However I checked out the port forwarding options in the router and they were even kind enough to have a xbox preset loaded.  I just told it which local IP was the xbox and rechecked my xbox connection and now I had Open NAT. 

Maybe one day cable or decent DSL will make it out to my home, but at least it seems I have a reasonable alternative now. 

[John_Getzke]

This is great news for the LTE network.  Perhaps VZW is on the verge of releasing new devices that can work around thier NAT settings.  I hope that is the case as there are many devices which require a public facing IP address to function correctly.

Your speeds look great too, very normal for an LTE connection.  I wouldnt expect DSL to be able to compete unless you start having issues with your data cap. 

Let us know if any other issues come up.

[Nap]

That's great.  I was just looking into getting HomeFusion today.  So it definitely works?  You got an open NAT using the router installed with HomeFusion?

Anyone else try this with success?

[jcaaron]

Yup just checked again.  Though it scared me for a sec, popped up the medium NAT message.  But then I realized it was just my second router (which I use as a wireless gateway for the basement) had messed up the xbox's IP address.  Told the HomeFusion router which IP was the xbox again and back to open NAT again. 

I haven't messed with the PS3 since I haven't been playing anything on it. 

Also I do not see any options for UPnD in the Homefusion router, though its menus are a little clunky and I might have missed it, but I've always manually forwarded ports anyway.

Anyway after a few days I'm pretty pleased.

*edit*Did stumble upon UPnD settings, so they do exist...

[vittorio88]

You are WRONG. The Homefusion is not behind a NATed network (otherwise known as CGN). You get a public, unique IPv4 address on the HBA.