question about dns address, static ip address, port forwarding?

Question

I'm following an online guide to do "port forwarding" to make some downloads faster for some program. It says I need to set up a static ip address and port forward it, and it gives me a guide about setting one up. I followed it exactly and typed in everything right and it said "if you cannot get access to the internet, you probably have the wrong dns addresses" even though I got it straight from the ipconfig /all.....It says I should call my ISP and they will be able to tell me the correct ones to use, and I tried it and they wouldn't give it to me and acted like they didn't know what I was talking about. I explained (a bit) and they said "we have dynamic IP addresses and they change everyday"....anyone know what I should do now?

Answer 1

right...I've had LOADS of practice with port forwarding...but first...your isp is probably telling you the truth...they cannot guarantee you a static ip, they generally give you a dynamic ip...and though you'll find they don't generally change everyday, they do change periodically. That being said, you don't NEED a static ip to port forward. In fact, it's not necessary at all.
I will need some other information to help you properly though...mainly, the model of router/switch you're using. Each one is slightly different. And please don't tell me you're not using one, cuz if you're not using one, you have no need to forward ports! :D

I got your 360 message, but I can't reply to you so I'm editing my answer here. It appears that you have just a modem, not a modem and a router. If this is the case, port forwarding will not do anything for you. The only things that may be slowing down your downloads are: ISP speed, the server you are getting files from and/or firewalls on your pc. You could try turning off your firewalls and see if that helps any because your line speed from your ISP and the server you're getting the files from you can't really do anything about.

Answer 2

Do you have a router at home or do you connect directly to your cable or DSL modem?

Your router should hold the static IP provided by your ISP. You can do port forwarding to an internally held IP for your windows machine.

What you're trying to do is establish connection routes using the OSI model

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_Model

You should investigate where in this path your signal is actually failing. I don't think it's the ISP, I think you're missing the distinction between your local address on a network and your external address through the modem.

Answer 3

The Static IP portion is internal on your local network..

chances are you're doing this b/c you have a router?

In the router you configure the port forwarding to always point to a specific IP address that exists on your lan (probably something like 192.168.x.x)..

They are correct in that they assign dynamic IP's to you (would be on the external/WAN interface of your router). In your PC though assign statically whatever IP address currently shows up in ipconfig /all

Then on the router is where you monky w/ the port forwarding to always send traffic destined for PORT x tot he IP address you assigned your PC..

keep in mind this only applies if the IP address of your PC is something like 10.x.x.x or 172.16.x.x or 192.168.x.x.

OR..if you feel really froggy, you can put in the MAC address of your PC, and always assign it the same IP address via DHCP adn still setup the port forwarding..

good luck, and yah most Tier I, front line desk jockeys wont be up on stuff like this..you've gotta get past them and into some of the Tier II guys before you get to the smarts of the organization..
(this is even more true for providers like comcast or AT&T etc..