# Question about TCP/IP connections over a router

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-tcp-ip-connections-over-a-router/149485>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 18, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-tcp-ip-connections-over-a-router/149485 "2003-01-18T16:28:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bubba\_Ray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bubba\_Ray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bubba_Ray)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-tcp-ip-connections-over-a-router/149485/1 "2003-01-18T16:28:00Z")

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Around christmas I hooked my DSL connection to a router so every PC on my Lan could use it. Today I wanted to play a game of Star Wars: Rebellion over TCP/IP connection but neither could I connect to the other machine, nor could he see my IP adress. I did give him the Internet IP, not the one my computer got from the router.

Any ideas, additional information needed?

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**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-tcp-ip-connections-over-a-router/149485/2 "2003-01-18T16:42:48Z")

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The router is doing Network Address Translation (NAT) and will block any incoming packets that are not coming in on certain well-known port numbers. You will need to find out what ports your game uses, then open them on the router so that they are mapped to your PC’s internal IP.

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**Author:** ![Davebear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Davebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Davebear)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-tcp-ip-connections-over-a-router/149485/3 "2003-01-18T16:51:19Z")

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Yep. Number is correct. Check out this site for lots of easy to understand help on networking. [Home Net Help](http://www.homenethelp.com)

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**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-tcp-ip-connections-over-a-router/149485/4 "2003-01-18T20:03:31Z")

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Set your router to forward whatever port the game needs to your gaming computer. Details should be in the router’s documentation.

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**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-tcp-ip-connections-over-a-router/149485/5 "2003-01-18T20:42:25Z")

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A quick way would be to list your computer as the DMZ in the router. Incoming packets will be forwarded to that machine.