Im not exactly sure what the console considers NAT open and strict. I have MW2 on both PS3 and XBox 360. Both of my consoles are set up in the same configuration running into a Netgear Firewall, but only my XBox says my NAT type is strict. I tried putting my XBox in the DMZ using a static IP and nothing changed. I don't have any problems getting games going but every so often my connection times out to the IW server.
A little background on myself, currently I work in the Information Technology field. From what I understand your Network address translation (NAT) is just the process of your router translating your local area network (LAN) IP addresses into you single wide area network (WAN) IP address issued by your internet service provider (ISP). In theory manually setting your consoles IP address to a static one, then placing that IP in the de-militarized zone (DMZ) pretty much connects it straight to the internet. The risk of doing that is that hackers cannot attack your local IP addresses but can attack your public one, so anything in the DMZ is pretty much exposed directly to the internet... not to worry not many people are not to concerned about their console being hacked into by someone on the internet. As for port forwarding, this happens automatically unless the ports are closed by default.
You mentioned you have a wireless access point connected to your router. If they both have dynamic host control protocol (DHCP) enabled this can cause conflicts with authority when any device with DHCP issued IP address, gateway/DNS, and subnet mask expires. Personally I would disable them both and set all of my local IP addresses manually. The next thing is that PS3 likes UPnP. This function just allows the PS3 to identify the router and communicate with other UPnP devices connected. This really doesn't have much to do with playing online but is a neat feature if you want to play music from a Windows based computer with media sharing enabled.
To configure your routers is you haven't done so already you can open a command prompt window by clicking on start the run. In the box type "cmd". A DOS Window should open. In that window type "ipconfig /all" Look for an IP address listed as your gateway. If you type this into a web browser such as FireFox your routers configuration should open. From here everything should be pretty easy to setup. Most routers have a default login and password of "admin" Just remember to set your all of your IP addresses in the same subnet as your router.
This is mine for example:
Router WAN side IP adress (whatever my ISP gave me, Im to lazy to keep guessing for an open one to set it statically)
Router LAN side IP address 192.168.1.1 <= This will be my gateway and domain name server (Primary DNS) for everything connected
PC1:
192.168.1.2
PC2:
192.168.1.3
Laptop:
192.168.1.4
PS3:
192.168.1.5
Xbox 360 Elite/Pro <= (I do not run them both at same time or there would be a conflict) <=On DMZ
192.168.1.6
PS2:
192.168.1.7
TV:
192.168.1.8
All of them have a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. This is to identify them as being on the same class C sub networked class A IP address issued by my ISP. I almost forgot, never assign anything an IP address ending in 0 or 255
. Those are your broadcast and network IDs
One last thing I have to ask is how is your wireless access connected to your router. Is it via LAN or WAN? If WAN you will get some problems because it might be trying to further sub network a class C network. It can be done but it adds latency (lag) and is unnecessary for home use. There is no need for a separate access point to be routing when you already have a gateway, which is the router connected closest to your modem. Try connecting your wireless LAN port to the LAN side of your router so that it functions as a wireless switch instead of a rouge access point.
If none of this helps then try the
DSL reports forums. They cover everything regarding networking. There are alot of experts who can actually run diagnostics on your setup if you allow them to.
Last edited by Evil_Black_Fox (2010-02-14 00:18:50)