Port forwarding on the Cisco/Linksys E4200v2

looper

Golden Member
Oct 22, 1999
1,655
10
81
I just installed this router several days ago, and it seems to be working fine. The ports that the PC game 'Battlefield 3' uses I want to forward. What is asked for there is my IP address also.

But which IP? My LAN/Gateway IP, My WAN-external IP, or my computer-IPv4 IP?

I found the guide at the Cisco site, but which IP to enter they don't tell you.

Sorry for the noob question...
 

Ghiedo27

Senior member
Mar 9, 2011
403
0
0
It wants to know the IP address for the device you want to packets forwarded to. So it'll be the IP address of the PC you play BF3 on. Just keep in mind this address can change, so if it's acting weird double check that the forward address is up to date.
 

looper

Golden Member
Oct 22, 1999
1,655
10
81
I'm DHCP, so does that mean I have to set up a static IP to utilize port forwarding?
 

looper

Golden Member
Oct 22, 1999
1,655
10
81
Is it even worth me bothering to do this.. It's strictly to try to get more speed in an online PC multiplayer game... Will it make a difference? We already have a pretty fast web connection. After I installed the modem, we did a speed test thru the Cisco site, and this was the result... 29.13 Down / 9.36 Up
 

Ghiedo27

Senior member
Mar 9, 2011
403
0
0
Port forwarding reduces latency which is the time delay for information to be processed by the router. It is (practically) independent of bandwidth (that's what the 29.13 / 9.36 figures measure).

The easiest way to decide if you need it is to play the game. If you see other players positions hop around you most likely need to enable port forwarding to get the desirable gameplay quality. This effect can be subtle. It may also help if you're having basic issues just establishing connectivity at all.

If you just want to avoid the hassle of setting up a static address, then you can probably skip that part. Wired connections have a fairly stable address in my experience doing this at home.
 

Gryz

Golden Member
Aug 28, 2010
1,551
204
106
Port forwarding will do nothing to lower your ping in an online game.

Port forwarding is used so you can run servers (of any kind) on machines inside your home network. Unless you want to run a BF3 server in your home, there is no need to do BF3 port-forwarding. (I don't play BF3 myself. If there's something really weird going on with BF3, that would require port-forwarding, please educate us. But it is unlikely).
 

MtnMan

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2004
9,365
8,701
136
^^^ Yep, port forwarding merely allows unsolicited traffic in through the SPI firewall to a specific IP inside the network. All the same processing still has to be done, tear the frame down, interrogate the destination IP, perform the NAT address substitution, and repackage in a new frame and forward.
 

Ghiedo27

Senior member
Mar 9, 2011
403
0
0
Weird, it's always seemed to help me with random ping spikes and a marginal difference (~10 to 25ms) in avg ping), but I guess it's just an observation bias.
 

NXIL

Senior member
Apr 14, 2005
774
0
0
Weird, it's always seemed to help me with random ping spikes and a marginal difference (~10 to 25ms) in avg ping), but I guess it's just an observation bias.

Hi Gheido--I agree.

On a DSL 6 down/1 up connection, without port forwarding, playing Call of Duty MW 2 or 3:

Before port forwarding, which i just did about a week ago for the first time:

Using the atomic clock accurate "one one thousand two one thousand" timer--

Other players would "freeze" in place for a count of "one one" (250 to 333 milliseconds) the "jump" or transport to a spot a few feet away. Jumpy.

After port forwarding, this has essentially disappeared. Occasionally there will be a short stutter, but it is less of a jump, much better and way less often than before.

Xbox is wired, not wireless.....no other changes were made to system.

Again, I definitely see a change--if I had a way to measure it objectively I would....
 
Last edited:

NXIL

Senior member
Apr 14, 2005
774
0
0
And another anecdotal, unscientific data point:

watched son play Modern Warfare 2 for about an hour--full servers, maximum players on both sides, lots of other players on the screen at times: I did not see any jittering or jumping or lag like I had before forwarding ports.

If I am messing with router anytime in the near future I will unforward, and not say anything about it, see if it gets noticed.
 

looper

Golden Member
Oct 22, 1999
1,655
10
81
Yesterday I got the ports for BF3 forwarded. I didn't notice any difference speed-wise. What seemed to make a difference was getting the new Cisco/Linksys E4200v2 router.
 

NXIL

Senior member
Apr 14, 2005
774
0
0
Hi Looper--I think your BF3 is on PC.....this port forwarding I did helped Xbox360.

I did forward ports to the PC with BF3 on it too, but have not gotten any feedback on that yet. It seems the vid card is the limiting factor on that anyway.....
 

looper

Golden Member
Oct 22, 1999
1,655
10
81
Seems I'm willing to try almost anything to improve my scores in BF3...