If you are a gamer, especially someone who is a console player, you might have come across the word NAT. Games which uses Peer-2-Peer technology or a mixture of P2P and dedicated servers depends on your internet connection’s NAT status for the quality of online gameplay, you will be experiencing. So, here you will learn how you can optimize the NAT-type on your connection, so your gaming experience on P2P games can remain great.
There are three NAT types – Open (NAT Type 1), Moderate (NAT Type 2) and Strict (NAT Type 3).
Open NAT type is considered best for online gaming while Moderate NAT type is considered good for both online gaming and your network security. Strict NAT type, on the other hand, is considered poor because your experience would be the worst while playing P2P-based games, such as GTA Online, COD Warzone, Minecraft etc.
If you are facing issues while playing a P2P-based game, then you might want to check your NAT settings on your game. Remember that your in-game issues might not be just because of what your connection’s NAT status is.
Disclaimer: Now, we know that Open NAT type is the best one for gaming, however, it is not the best for your network’s security. So, while your experience might not be the best with Moderate NAT, I wouldn’t recommend trying to make it Open NAT, especially if you’re gaming on a PC, especially if you do not have a decent router.
How to optimize NAT type status on your connection?
There are a few ways to do so, but not everything might work for you. It completely depends on your ISP and if you’re on a cellular network, then there is nothing you can do about it.
Option #1 – Turn on UPnP:
This is the safest and easiest way for you to switch to Moderate NAT from Strict NAT. In some cases, you might even have Open NAT after enabling this. All you need to do is, open your router’s page (usually it is 192.168.1.1, but may vary), login and then find the option on your router’s settings. It should be somewhere in Firewall options but could be elsewhere too.
You can find the exact steps by searching about it alongside your router’s model (look below the router if you are not sure about it). Once you are done, you can check your NAT status in game and see whether it was able to fix and optimize the NAT type of not.
In some cases, your router might just be Access Point for your ISP’s modem (ONT/ONU) at home. In that case, you need to enable UPnP there as well.
Option #2 – Port Forwarding:
This might be a little bit complicated, but this might be useful if just enabling UPnP is not enough for you.
Just look for the port forwarding settings for the game you want to play and then configure that with your router. In certain cases, you might need to ask your ISP to configure it.
Option #3 – Static IP Address:
Since there is lack of IPv4 addresses, most ISPs are providing their services under CGNAT. It helps them run their business with limited set of IP addresses, and their customers almost never face issues because of that.
However, it creates another NAT, besides your router’s. And due to this, you can have at best, Moderate NAT.
If you want to have Open NAT or if your ISP completely rejects (or most likely – ignore) your request for Moderate NAT, then the next best thing you can do is to apply for a static IP address. It mostly costs some additional amount, in addition to your regular internet plan.
It has its own share of advantages and disadvantages. For example, while you can have Open NAT, unauthorized people can actually harm your devices if your router is a potato – I mean, if your router sucks. I know, there is very little chances for someone to attack you, but when you’re talking about gamers, you can never be sure about this.
Anyway, if your router is a decent one, then you likely won’t have a problem. And you can simply enable UPnP on your router or port forward for your game properly.
Option #4 – VPN:
Some VPNs can be helpful for you as well. If you fail to get Moderate NAT on your internet due to limitations placed by your ISP, the easiest way to get rid of it would be to use a VPN. Most VPNs allow P2P connectivity, but there are not many options to do it free of cost. You can use Cloudflare WARP or Windscribe if you do not want to spend money for it. Though, you might not have the best experience if there is routing issue or lack of free server in your region by them.
Conclusion:
So that’s it for this article. There might be some ISPs who like to lock their users completely and may not allow peer-to-peer connection and in that case, only the option #4 would be usable for you to fix and optimize NAT type on your connection. There are some ISPs who do this to stop their users from torrenting illegal files, but end up causing disruption for their other users who are using the connection for legal usage.
Also, in some case, your internet connection quality might just be bad, and it might not be because of your NAT status that your experience is bad in gaming. So, you can try playing games which got dedicated servers, to verify that.
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