NAT settings and other comms problems

I had the devil's own job of getting my online communications working properly and it took ages to sort out. Here's why.

My home WiFi was set up by a 'proper' network technician who had no idea about playing games. His thing was 'security'. Therefore my WiFi network was locked down tighter than a gnat's chuff. Not an ideal situation when wanting to freely communicate with others over Xbox Live and play games with others etc.

What was happening was I could join in with any type of Call of Duty online match and I could easily play online with others on games such as Left 4 Dead 2 etc. but I could not join anybody’s party or simply 'jump in' on any Gamerdad games in progress etc. It was a total conundrum and I was having a bad time finding a solution. I'd Googled the problem, read countless threads on many gaming websites etc. but to no avail.

I have a Belkin router and I'd read about NAT settings on this website which I found really useful. Unfortunately some of the links are now dead, but this one internet post was enough to point me in the right direction. If you have CoD MW2 and you try to play online it will tell you what your NAT settings are and are either strict, moderate or open. My NAT setting, according to CoD MW2, was set to strict so it was not the situation I was looking for. But even after faffing about with my router (never a good idea as it is really easy to cock all your settings up as I frequently managed to do) I was still stumped.

My last resort was to call Xbox customer service and ask them. Trouble is they can't support NAT settings because it’s to do with which ports you have set to open on your router's settings. What they did though was to recommend a website called PortForward.com and what you have to do is identify your make and model of router (believe me, they will have it listed) and then look up what game you want to set up your router to be able to play. I chose CoD MW2 and followed the easy to understand on screen instructions. Once completed (in five minutes) I popped CoD MW2 into the Xbox and viola! My NAT setting was now set to open and it's been that way ever since.

Now I am able to jump in to anybody's session and have no problems whatsoever regarding connectivity or communications with my Xbox 360.

If you're an Xbox 360 Gamerdad and are still confused about getting online for the first time, look me up on our GD beginners site 'Call of Nooby' and we'll get you going.