by Tommy N. Updated Apr 23, 2026
If you've ever been stuck with NAT Type Strict on your PS5 or Xbox and can't join friends in online matches, you already know how frustrating a misconfigured router can be — fixing your NAT type is one of the single most impactful changes you can make for online gaming. Whether you're dropping into battle royales on PC, teaming up on console, or hosting private lobbies, NAT type controls who you can connect with and how reliably those connections hold up under pressure.
In this guide you'll learn exactly what NAT type means, why it affects matchmaking and voice chat, and the step-by-step methods — from enabling UPnP to setting up port forwarding and a DMZ — that move you from Strict to Open on any platform. If you're not sure where to start, brush up on how to find your router's IP address and review the basics of port forwarding before diving in.
NAT stands for Network Address Translation — it's the process your router uses to share a single public IP address among all the devices on your home network. When you send a request to an online game server, your router rewrites the source address from your private local IP to your public IP, then forwards replies back to the correct device. This translation layer is invisible during normal web browsing, but online gaming requires direct peer-to-peer connections that NAT can block or restrict depending on how tightly your router is configured.
The three NAT types you'll encounter on consoles map to a more granular four-category system used by networking engineers. Sony labels them Open, Moderate, and Strict on PlayStation; Microsoft uses Open, Moderate, and Strict on Xbox as well; and PC games typically describe them as Open, Moderate, and Strict or as Type 1, 2, and 3. In every case, the core issue is the same: a Strict or Type 3 NAT means your router is aggressively blocking unsolicited inbound traffic, which prevents peers behind similarly strict routers from establishing a direct connection to you.
The practical impact on gaming is significant. With a Strict NAT type you'll often be matched only with players who have Open NAT, your voice chat may cut out randomly, you'll be unable to host game lobbies, and join times can stretch from seconds to minutes while the matchmaking system tries and fails to negotiate a direct link. Some titles — notably Call of Duty, Destiny 2, and Rocket League — will outright warn you in their network diagnostics menus when NAT is preventing connections.
The root causes are almost always one of three things: UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) is disabled on your router, your gaming device doesn't have a static local IP address so port forwarding rules break whenever the lease renews, or a second router or carrier-grade NAT upstream is creating a "double NAT" situation. Understanding which scenario applies to you determines which fix you need — and in most cases the solution takes under fifteen minutes.
Work through these steps in order — most users will be resolved by step 2 or 3 without needing to go further.
Use this table when creating manual port forwarding rules. Open both TCP and UDP unless only one protocol is listed for a given service.
| Platform / Service | Protocol | Ports | NAT Type Goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| PlayStation Network (PS5 / PS4) | TCP & UDP | 80, 443, 1935, 3478–3480 | Type 2 (Moderate) or Type 1 (Open) |
| Xbox Network (Series X|S / One) | TCP & UDP | 53, 80, 443, 3074, 3075 | Open |
| Nintendo Switch Online | TCP & UDP | 443, 1024–65535 | Type A (Open) |
| PC — Steam | TCP & UDP | 27015–27030, 27036–27037 | Open |
| PC — Call of Duty / Battle.net | TCP & UDP | 80, 443, 1119, 3074, 3724 | Open |
UPnP is simpler and handles multiple devices automatically, but some security researchers recommend disabling it on networks with untrusted devices (smart TVs, IoT gadgets) because a compromised device could open ports without your knowledge. If your network is limited to devices you control, UPnP is perfectly safe and far easier to maintain than keeping manual port forwarding rules updated for every game title you play.
Even after following the steps above, some setups require extra attention. The most common mistake is skipping the static IP assignment and going straight to port forwarding — when your console gets a new DHCP lease with a different IP, the forwarding rules silently stop working and you're back to Strict NAT with no obvious error message. Always anchor your forwarding rules to a DHCP reservation first.
Double NAT is the second most common culprit and the trickiest to diagnose. If your ISP provides a modem-router combo and you've added your own router behind it, both devices are performing NAT. Even with perfect port forwarding on your personal router, the upstream modem-router will block inbound traffic it didn't initiate. The fix is to either put the ISP device in "IP Passthrough" or "Bridge" mode so it stops doing NAT, or to use the ISP device's DMZ feature to forward all traffic to your personal router's WAN IP.
VPNs are another silent NAT killer. If you run a VPN on your gaming device or at the router level, the VPN server becomes the new NAT layer and your carefully configured port forwards become irrelevant. Disable the VPN for gaming sessions or check whether your VPN provider offers port forwarding as an add-on feature. You can also use our port checker tool to verify that the ports you've opened are actually reachable from the internet before assuming your router config is broken.
Pro Tip: Use our Port Checker tool to confirm that the ports you've forwarded are visible from the public internet. If the tool reports a port as closed even after you've configured forwarding, the problem is almost always double NAT or a firewall rule on the router itself overriding your forwarding entry — check for a "Block WAN requests" or "SPI Firewall" toggle and verify it isn't blocking the specific ports you opened.
On PlayStation, Type 1 means your console is connected directly to the internet (no router NAT at all), Type 2 means it's behind a router with UPnP or properly forwarded ports and can connect to all other NAT types, and Type 3 (Strict) means the router is blocking peer-to-peer traffic and you can only connect reliably to Type 1 players. For the vast majority of home users, Type 2 is the ideal target — it balances full connectivity with the protection of a router firewall. Check your current local network setup with a public vs. private IP explainer if you're unsure which category you fall into.
NAT type primarily affects who you can connect to and how quickly a peer-to-peer connection is established — it does not directly increase ping to dedicated game servers. However, when two players are behind Strict NAT, games often fall back to routing traffic through a relay server instead of a direct link, which adds latency and can cause the jitter and lag spikes that feel like high ping. Fixing your NAT type won't reduce your base latency to a server in another country, but it can eliminate the relay-induced lag you experience in peer-hosted lobbies and voice chat.
For most home networks with a known set of trusted devices, UPnP is safe and is the recommended approach by console manufacturers themselves. The risk scenario involves compromised IoT devices (smart bulbs, cameras, cheap smart TVs) that could theoretically use UPnP to open ports without your knowledge. If your network is limited to computers, phones, and gaming consoles you control, the risk is negligible. If you have many IoT devices, use manual port forwarding with a DHCP reservation instead and keep UPnP disabled.
On Xbox, go to Settings → General → Network Settings and check the current NAT Type. Enable UPnP on your router first (see step 2 above); Xbox uses UPnP extensively and this usually resolves Strict NAT immediately. If it remains Strict, forward TCP & UDP port 3074 and TCP ports 3075, 53, 80, and 443 to your console's static local IP address, then use the "Test NAT Type" option in Xbox network settings to confirm the change.
The most common reason NAT type reverts is that your gaming device has a dynamic DHCP address — when the lease expires and the router assigns a new IP, existing port forwarding rules no longer point at the right device. Fix this by creating a DHCP reservation in your router that permanently ties your console's MAC address to a specific local IP. A secondary cause is that UPnP lease mappings expire and don't renew correctly; upgrading your router firmware via our firmware update guide often resolves UPnP reliability bugs.
Yes — when a VPN is active on your gaming device or router, all traffic is tunneled through the VPN server, which becomes the new NAT boundary. Your router's port forwarding rules don't apply to traffic inside the VPN tunnel, so the game sees the VPN server's NAT as Strict. To restore Open NAT while using a VPN, either disable the VPN during gaming sessions, use split-tunneling to exclude your gaming device from the VPN, or choose a VPN provider that supports port forwarding on its servers.
For authoritative networking standards and specifications, refer to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) or IETF RFC documents.
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About Tommy N.
Tommy is the founder of RouterHax and a network engineer with over ten years of experience in home and enterprise networking. He has configured and troubleshot networks ranging from simple home setups to multi-site enterprise deployments, with deep hands-on experience in router configuration, WiFi optimization, and network security. At RouterHax, he oversees editorial direction and covers home networking guides, mesh WiFi system reviews, and practical troubleshooting resources for everyday users.
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