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My situation is very specific, but I don't think it is uncommon. I'm not very hopeful about the situation, but since I don't know networking that well there can be something I just can't see.
I live in an apartment complex, and the internet here is being routed by the ISP (Cox). I already got in contact with their tech support because I was having problems using applications which required certain ports to be easily accessible (My friend used an open source program to sniff the ports while I was trying to use the applications). According to tech support, it seems that there is one or more of those industrial modems doing the routing for the whole complex. The modems are then connected to Network switches which provide connection to each room (Ehernet jack on the wall).
-Firewall off still shows ports as closed -There doesn't seem to be NAT masquerading when I observe the network details -There is more than one port and more than one application with the problem -Bandwidth is pretty good (10 down, 10 up).
Is the fact that port forwarding can't be done the real problem? (Since there doesn't seem to be NAT masquerading). If it is, is there really nothing else that can be done to help? Is it better if I get a router just to connect my computer to the jack on the wall and do port-forwarding in it?
1What is the reason you need port forwarding? If you already got a normal, not RFC1918 IP then there would be no need for it. – Hennes – 2013-02-06T23:19:30.940
The programs I use which uses certain ports behave as if the ports are closed. Sniffing indicates that the ports are closed. All I can think of, with my limited knowledge, is to forward them (Since they are not Blocked my the ISP). – OverAchiever – 2013-02-07T01:04:04.037
2@Hennes He may have a IP but there may be a hardware firewall blocking all incoming traffic. My collage dorm was like that, I had a routeable IP, however all unsolicited inbound traffic would be blocked, so I could not host multiplayer games or create a direct connection to another person if they also where firewalled. – Scott Chamberlain – 2013-02-07T01:47:29.977
"Since they are not Blocked my the ISP" but they are blocked by *your* ISP, Cox is your apartments ISP, *your* ISP is the apartment complex. – Scott Chamberlain – 2013-02-07T02:12:05.170
Want to really blow your mind? Cox uses a ISP too! They are a tier 2 or tier 3 ISP and rely on higher tiers to connect to other ISPs.
– Scott Chamberlain – 2013-02-07T02:15:26.887@ScottChamberlain My apartment complex does not handle any of the service actually (I wish). It is all done by Cox in a very industrial fashion (You have to go through several tech support guys to even extract some info). – OverAchiever – 2013-02-07T07:04:00.043