Did you know your 2wire 2701HG router has a basic firewall to help protect your home network from unwanted access coming from the Internet? This is what a firewall does. By design a firewall blocks all incoming and outgoing connections. This, of course, makes it impossible to use the Internet, so by default some of the connections have been opened to allow Internet use.
When you want to open additional connections this is called opening a port. This is done when you want an application to run smoother or a game to have less lag. This process of opening a port is more frequently called a port forward.
The basic process to opening a port is:
- Setup a static IP address on your device you want to forward a port to.
- Login to your 2wire 2701HG router.
- Navigate to the port forwarding section.
- Click the Firewall button.
- Click the Firewall Settings button.
- Use the Select a computer to select the device to forward ports to.
- Click the Add a new user-defined application link.
- Create a port forward entry.
Don't panic, we will walk you through each one to get your ports forwarded.
It is important to setup a static ip address in the device that you are forwarding a port to. This ensures that your ports will remain open even after your device reboots.
- Recommended - Our free Static IP Setter will set up a static IP address for you.
- Another way to get a permanent IP address is to set up a DHCP reservation.
- Or, manually create a static ip address with our Static IP Guides.
This step is important because you want a permanent IP address in your device. If you do not set up a permanent IP address in your device, then when you device reboots it may get a new IP address.
It is now time to login to the 2wire 2701HG router. To do this you need to use a web browser because your router uses what is called a web interface.
When choosing a web browser, it does not matter what one you choose. Some common web browsers include Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Edge. It shouldn't matter what web browser you use, so go ahead and pick an obscure one if you want and prove us wrong.
After opening the web browser of your choice, find the address bar. This is typically found at the top of the page like this:
Above is an example of what a web browser address bar looks like. Find the address bar in your router and type in your router's IP address.
The default 2wire 2701HG IP Address is: 192.168.1.254
After you have finished entering the router's IP address simply click the enter key. You should then see a page like this:
By default there is no login username or password needed to access the web interface. This means anyone within your home network can make changes to your router. This is inadvisable, we recommend creating a unique username and password for your web interface.
If you are presented with a screen asking for a password then you have changed it in the past. If you don't remember what that username or password is then we suggest trying our Find Password App. It helps you figure out your lost password on your home network.
It is time to find the port forwarding section of the router. To do this let's start on the first page after accessing the router:
First, click the Firewall option at the top of the screen.
Next, click the Firewall Settings button in the smaller sub-menu.
You should now see a page similar to the one above.
Find where it says 1. Select a computer. In that drop down box pick the device you are forwarding these ports to. This list contains a list of all the devices that are visible on your home network.
Click the link that reads Add a new user-defined application and you will be taken to the following page:
Here are the ports to forward for Xbox Live:
- TCP Ports: 3074
- UDP Ports: 3074
If you are looking for the ports for a different application you can find it by either:
Put a name for this forward in the Application Name box so that you can remember why you set this forward up. The name does not matter so pick something that has meaning to you.
Select the protocol that you are forwarding in the Protocol radio button.
If you need both TCP and UDP forwarded then you need to create a duplicate configuration. One configuration has TCP selected and the other one has have UDP selected.
If you are forwarding a range of ports separated by a hyphen then enter the lowest number of that range into the Port (or Range) From box and the highest number of that range into the Port (or Range) To box. If you are only forwarding a single port number then enter that number into both the Port (or Range) From and the Port (or Range) To boxes.
In the Protocol Timeout (seconds) box you need to enter a protocol timeout. The default protocol timeouts are 86400 for TCP and 600 for UDP. Unless you have a reason to use different numbers these timeouts should work fine.
Go ahead and leave the Map to Host Port box empty.
You can leave Application Type set to None.
Click the Add Definition button.
Click the Back button in the lower right corner of the page.
Now use the Applications box on the left to pick the names of the applications you just created, then hit the Add button to move them to the Hosted Applications box.
When you are finished, click the Done button near the bottom of the page.
Test if Your Ports are Open
After you have finished forwarding the ports on the 2wire 2701HG router you need to test them in order to see if the ports were forwarded correctly.
To check to see if the ports have been properly opened on the 2wire 2701HG router we recommend using our Network Utilities with the free Open Port Checker. This Open Port Checker is the only one online that has Guaranteed Results. Learn more about how to check for open ports here.
We have more resources for you if you are interested: