Port Forwarding Not Working

[Noel_V]

Hi,

I’m having a problem with Port Forwarding.

Router: Actiontec MI424-WR Rev. D.

I’ve set up a wireless security camera with a static IP Address. (The camera interface shows Port 80). It connects at home.

I’ve gone through the steps below to open Port Forwarding (Port 80) to access the camera from away from home, but with no success.

I had someone across town try 192.168.1.9:80 with no luck.

Can you see where I’ve missed something?

Many thanks,
Noel_v

ONE
In DHCP Connections I set up static IP address 192.168.1.9 and added MAC address for device (Trendnet 551WI).
TV-IP551WI    192.168.1.9    d8:eb:97:d2:81:54    Static    Network (Home/Office)    Active    1216 minutes    

Test Succeeded 4 pings 4/4 transmitted, 4/4 received, 0% loss.

************************

TWO
Open Firewall Settings—>Typical Security—>Port Forwarding.

Create New Port Forwarding Rule—>Specify IP—>(192.168.1.9)

Application to Forward—>Custom Ports

Protocol—>TCP

Source Port—>Specify—>80

Destination Port—>Specify—>80

WAN Connection Type—> All Broadband Devices

Forwarding to Port—>Same as Incoming Port

Schedule—>Always

Hit APPLY


               

[CaptainSTX · Accepted solution]

The reason it is not working is that you are  trying to connect using a private IP on your LAN.    I wouldn't be surprised if there are not a 100 million devices using the private IP you tried to connect to (192.168.1.9 ) so there is no way for the routers on the Internet to know where your request to connect  should go.  Same as  dropping a letter in the mail addressed to Apt 3 with nothing else on the envelope.  It would end up in the dead letter office ASAP.

For the port forwarding  to work you need to use the Public IP address assigned to your router by Verizon.   Several ways to get  this address.  The easiests is just to access your router and look at the status page and see what the IP listed is for your WAN.

Failing that go to an IP look up site such as www.whatismyip.com

That is the ip you need to type in to reach your camera from the WWW followed by the port number you have forwarded to your camera.  Incidentally,  I doubt that port   80 is the correct port so you need to dig a little deeper in your camera's documentation.   

HOWEVER:  The Public IP given you by Verizon is not a static public IP.   It will change sometime.  Might not be for months if your router never loses power or is rebooted but it will change.  To get around this issue and permanently be able to connect to your cameras from any where  at any time you need to set up DyanamicDNS or something similar on your router.   I believe that some camera manufactures offer free or low cost DNS service.   DNS service  are services that translates a domain name to whatever your current public IP is.  The service updates itself whenever you public IP changes.  Then to connect to your camera you would type in your domain   and the port number (for example mycamera.selfip.net:5001 ) and you would connect to your cameras.

[Hubrisnxs]

Also I notice you specified the source port. 

Actiontec's need only the destination to be defined.

so it should be 192.168.1.x TCP ANY - > 80

you have 192.168.1.x TCP 80 - > 80 

[Noel_V]

CaptainSTX
Hubrisnxs

Thanks guys. I'm getting this bit by bit. Something to work on over the holidays.

Noel_V

[Hubrisnxs]

Ultimately captain is correct, you'll need your public address to connect  like that but even if you had that, the rules weren't set correctly. 

Here are the instructions for programming the router http://www.dslreports.com/faq/16968

After you've done that go to whatismyip's website to get the correct ip address as Captain noted. 

[cpda]

Thanks pal! That's what I needed to fix this issue!

[LawrenceC]

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