question opening ports through router

[L1Technician]

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@TS
thing is when i only use my DSL ports are open to connection

Just to remind you, the modem has no firewall. The router has a built-in firewall.

Which is easier for you to do? The port forwarding or port triggering.

[sploy]

@TS
Can you do a speedtest when you are using your router and when you are directly connected to the dsl modem? and on different times of the day.

I don't think there is an issue with the router having blocked ports.. Cause if there is, you would not be able to download in the first place. And if the router was installed using default values, blocking of ports is alway disabled on linksys routers and even on some routers too.

[L1Technician]

Cause if there is, you would not be able to download in the first place.

If you notice using (ex. utorrent, bitorrent etc) there is a signal strength on the right handside at the bottom. Kung naay firewall naka block sa connection ang signal streangth dili gyud ma full bars. Maski naay firewall naka block maka download gihapon but the speed sa pag download it maybe slow.


And if the router was installed using default values, blocking of ports is alway disabled on linksys routers and even on some routers too.

If you know about routers they have a built-in firewall on it. And for the Linksys router the blocking ports is not disabled by default.

[sploy]

@L1technician
that is in the case of Torrents (and even skype) since they use random port numbers or they encapsulate their data inside http data headers. but if the firewall is able to understand the traffic patterns used by torrent applications, it will still be able to block them (i.e. Fortigate Firewalls). my point is, opening ports is no longer necessary for him to do since ang flow sa traffic is from the inside of the private network to outside, which normally allows any traffic unless configured to block certain ports.

but if the traffic is from outside/public network going inside, it is just in this time that you need to open ports (another term is port forwarding) to allow a public entity to connect to resources inside the private network.

[L1Technician]

that is in the case of Torrents (and even skype)

I will extend my example (X-box, PS3, Torrents, Warcraft III, Surveillance camera, Outlook, FTP etc)

my point is, opening ports is no longer necessary for him to do since ang flow sa traffic is from the inside of the private network to outside

Is this how you translate the downloading process from inside of the private network to outside?

As what the TS is stated if he is using the modem the download works great but if using his router the downloads is kind of slow.



For example if

[sploy]

that is in the case of Torrents (and even skype)

I will extend my example (X-box, PS3, Torrents, Warcraft III, Surveillance camera, Outlook, FTP etc)

my point is, opening ports is no longer necessary for him to do since ang flow sa traffic is from the inside of the private network to outside

Is this how you translate the downloading process from inside of the private network to outside?

As what the TS is stated if he is using the modem the download works great but if using his router the downloads is kind of slow.



For example if

well, any application that uses random port and/or data encapsulation into another data traffic is still under the explanation why sometimes even if ports are already blocked, traffic are still being allowed to pass through the router. But not in the case of FTP (port 20 and 21) and OUTLOOK (uses SMTP w/ port: 25) where the ports are fixed unless otherwise configured manually.

for the downloading process, yes it is from inside to outside, because before the actual data transfer of the download, the session must go through the TCP Three-way handshake process where:

(1)the source PC (which is inside the private network) first sends a TCP Synchronization (SYN) packet to the destination (which could be the server or any other public resource). This is where filtering usually comes in.

(2) The receiving host (which is the public resource) acknowledges the SYN and in the same packet sends its own SYN packet.

(3) Lastly, the original host (which is your pc inside the private network) acknowledges the receipt of the SYN from the other host (which is the public resource) by sending ACK packet

So, if you look at the process, in this first step alone, it shows that the PC is still the source of your traffic and the data you receive is already the acknowledgment of the public resource to the original request.

and through that step, the router/firewall is able to know if such packet is allowed to pass through based on the packet's source and destination (IP Address AND Port Number) and the firewall rules. So, if we assume, that a certain sessions with a certain port number is blocked, definitely, it will never be allowed by the router/firewall. unless, of course, they use such applications, like torrents stated above that jump from one tcp port..


And lastly, the fact that there is a slower connection when using a router than dsl modem is still not enough to conclude that there are blocked ports that cause such.

[personalmgt]

but if the traffic is from outside/public network going inside, it is just in this time that you need to open ports (another term is port forwarding) to allow a public entity to connect to resources inside the private network.

i agree with this one. but just a question regarding torrents, how come you will still need to open ports to make utorrent fully functional?

yes, you can download and seed on utorrent without the necessary ports open but it is indeed slow and sometimes you cannot download anything on it depending on the router you are using.

[L1Technician]

Its only the explanation how the UDP and TCP works ei. And definitely not the fix.

@Topic

It is already tested if the downloads is slow while using a router. Like using a torrent for example by getting the listening port that the torrent uses and forward it that gonna improve the downloads that's why experts posted this tutorial Port Forwarding for the Linksys WRT160N

And lastly, the fact that there is a slower connection when using a router than dsl modem is still not enough to conclude that there are blocked ports that cause such.

What could be the fact? Any idea?

The problem is already isolated. (Downloads is okay using the modem, while using the router its somewhat slower)

[sploy]

@personalmgt
Check this BitTorrentGuide. Then check the peer exchange section. it shows there 'More Peers = More Speed'. but im not sure what's the concept with that. maybe to force other torrent users to share their stuff in exchange to a faster download speed. I've tried this too, but wasn't able to measure the differences. well, it's worth a try.

@L1Technician
Yes, the problem is isolated, but just partially. And the gathered facts are not that conclusive.

also, remember that the TS never talked about torrent, whatsoever. He only said about downloading stuff so port forwarding alone may not be the solution to his problem.

Port forwarding is used in torrents so that many peers will be able to see you from public network, hence the term, 'More Peers = More Speed' is applicable. and of course, port forwarding allow those public users to download from your pc not the other way around.