Telus Wifi Hub - difficulty port forwarding with WAN

[DustinEdm]

Hello, I recently moved into a new building that has a new Telus Wifi Hub for my unit. I am attempting to run a local server for board games with friends on the app FoundryVTT. This application usually uses port 30 000 to direct users to a login screen on the server I host (the application itself has decent security settings and only allows interactions within a tight environment). Unfortunately all of the methods I have used and the advice I've read online still seems to fail me whenever I or a friend attempts to access the URL.

I have:

1. Set up my client PC IP address as a DMZ
2. Enabled port forwarding to port 30 000 of my PC's DMZ'ed address
3. Gone into firewall settings and allowed connections in via HTTP. I have tested it with the "all other ports' option allowing traffic in, but that also didn't work. I have kept it off otherwise since I figure it is poor security to allow traffic in on all undefined ports.
4. Allowed the trigger port 30 000 and public port 30 000 with TCP method to be allowed under "Special Appliaction List"

However it still doesn't seem to allow users to connect to the server... I can connect with devices uses the LAN address, so I can verify the server is up and running. I just can't access this server no matter what I enable on the modem side. Any help would be appreciated!

[Nighthawk]

By default you will not be able to access the server using the WAN IP or external IP address from your home network. That's just the way all Telus connections work. If you have a second computer on a VPN, you could try connect that way to test if it's working. 

If the PC is in the DMZ, will port forwarding settings even apply to it? Have you tried with it not in DMZ? I've had luck getting port forwarding working in most cases without using DMZ.

Is the WAN IP address of the Wifi Hub the same as what you see when you go to https://www.whatismyip.com/ ? If no, then you have an entirely different problem that can't be fixed from your end.

[DustinEdm]

Ah good point, I didn't think about the DMZ rendering all the port forwarding settings moot. The whatsmyIP website does provide the same address that the server believes I have.

I've removed the DMZ, and went back to the standard port forwarding application. I've rebooted the modem after all of these were applied and refreshed the application. But it still looks like the connection is closed.

Current setup is (with screenshots):

• Port forwarding enabled on my public IP on port 30 000 to point at my server
• Special application of port 30 000 to prevent the NAT from interfering
• All other undefined ports enabled (I still feel this is poor practice, and may switch the server's port to be something like 8001 or a different usable port that is covered under a different firewall tab, but right now I just need to understand the mechanism for allowing access for my friends)

If my research is correct, my IP address is being changed frequently due to WAN, and I should request a static IP. However I'm poorly versed in how to request a static IP in the following fields and how I should request the modem to set this up

[Nighthawk]

While I can't see the screenshots yet (pics are moderated) I can confirm that you should not need a WAN static IP. My WAN IP hasn't changed in a very long time. I'd guess at least 6 months or more. Static IPs are usually only available on business connections if I remember correctly. Setting your PC on a static IP within the LAN is probably a good idea.

[DustinEdm]

Did a bit more testing and yeah, the whatsmyip address matches the Foundry address invitation link it generates on the app. Double checked the port forwarding rules and it looks like its setup correctly with the guides in Telus forums and the Foundry support pages (https://foundryvtt.com/article/port-forwarding/). Will attempt to do a full factory reset of the modem and try again.  

[xray]

Do not set a static WAN IP address unless you have have been assigned a static IP address by TELUS.

If your WAN IP assigned by DHCP is not the same as what you see at https://www.whatismyip.com/ then you are behind carrier grade NAT and port forwarding will not work no matter what you do. @Nighthawk mentions this in his post above but you have not indicated if this is the case or not.

[xray]

@Nighthawk brought up a point that you have not responded to. Are you trying to test the port forwarding from inside your network or are you testing from the Internet side either from another location or using mobile data?