An important aspect of having a Netgear router on your home network is internet security. In general, routers block incoming internet connections and protect your network by only allowing the connections that you specifically set up. Sometimes it is necessary to unblock certain connections in your router or open a port in order to play a game or use an application. To help you get a better connection for gaming or using an application, you can open a port in your FVS318N and allow a direct connection.
The following steps will show you how to open ports on the Netgear FVS318N router:
- On the computer or device that you are forwarding ports to, you will need to set up a static IP address.
- Log in to your Netgear FVS318N router.
- Create a Service for the ports you want to forward
- Create a Rule for the service you created
Opening ports in a router can be a difficult process the first few times. Don't get discouraged! We will walk you through all the steps to open a port in the Netgear FVS318N router.
We think that forwarding a port should be easy. That's why we created Network Utilities. Our software does everything that you need to forward a port.
When you use Network Utilities you get your port forwarded right now!
Step 1 - Setup A Static IP Address
Set up a static IP address in the device that you are forwarding a port to. This is an important step that keeps your ports open even after a reboot, power outage, or another type of device or router disconnect.
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Recommended - Our free program will setup a static IP address for you.
â Download Network Utilities today!
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Or follow our Static IP Address guides to setup a static IP address.
After setting up a static ip address on your devices you need to login to your router.
Step 2 - Login To Your Netgear Router
Log in to the Netgear FVS318N router. To do this you need to use a web browser because the Netgear FVS318N router uses what is called a web interface.
It normally doesn't matter what web browser you use so go ahead and open up your favorite. If you don't have a favorite then open up Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.
If that is confusing to you, we have simplified this step with this link: Login to your FVS318N Router
Once you have opened up a browser window, find the address bar. This is usually at the top of the page like the image below shows.
Above is an example of what a web browser address bar looks like. Find the address bar in your web browser and type in your router's IP address.
The Netgear FVS318N router's default IP address is: 192.168.1.1
Enter your router's IP address into the address bar of your browser and click the enter button on your keyboard. A box like the one below should appear.
Go ahead and enter the username and password for the Netgear FVS318N router in the spaces available. Remember if you have changed them in the past, you need to enter those values.
- The default Netgear FVS318N Router Username is: admin
- The default Netgear FVS318N Router Password is: password
Enter your username and password, and then click the Login button to log in to your Netgear FVS318N router.
Netgear Username and Password Trouble
If the username and password that you typed in did not work, check out our Default Netgear Router Passwords page for other ideas about possible passwords.
If, after trying the above list of passwords you still can't log in, you may need to reset your router. Learn how to do that by reading our How to Reset a Router guide. After resetting the Netgear FVS318N router your username and password are reverted back to factory defaults. Router settings may also change when you reset, so make a note of your current router settings before you reset.
After a successful login to the Netgear FVS318N router you should be on the home page of your router. Now you need to find the Services section.
Step 3 - Create a Service
First you'll need to create a service for the ports you want to forward.
- Click on the Security link, which is at the top of the screen.
- Click the link called Services.
You are now on the Services page.
Opening a port to a specific device may solve problems that you are having on your network. Make sure that it is necessary though, before opening a port, because you are effectively creating a pinhole in the firewall portion of your router that could lead to malicious traffic on your network. The risk is exceedingly low, though, so don't let this warning stop you from making this change if you need it.
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:
- Browsing our List of Games
- Check out our our List of Games by Genre
- See our List of all Applications
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Put a name for this forward in the 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.
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Use the Type dropdown box to select the protocol type of the ports you are forwarding. If your router has the option of Both, then choose that. Otherwise, choose either TCP or UDP as needed. If you need to forward a port for both TCP and UDP and your router does not have Both, then you have to create two entries.
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If you are only forwarding a single port number then enter that number into both the Start Port and the End Port boxes. If you are forwarding a range of ports separated by a hyphen, then enter the lowest number of that range into the Start Port box and the highest number of that range into the End Port box.
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Click the Add button at the right of the page to apply these changes when you are completely finished.
Step 4 - Create a Firewall Rule
Now you'll need to create a rule for those services you created.
- Find the Firewall link located near the top of the screen and click on it.
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Click the Add button near the bottom of the page in the Inbound Services section.
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Find and select the service you previously created in the Service list.
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Select ALLOW always from the Action drop-down box.
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Enter the address you want your service to be forwarded to into the Send to LAN Server boxes.
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Leave WAN Users set to Any, unless you know exactly what you're doing.
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When you are completely finished, click the Apply button at the bottom of the page to apply these changes.
Test If Your Ports Are Open
Finally, I strongly recommend testing to see if you forwarded the Netgear FVS318N ports correctly. To do this you can use our Network Utilities tool, which includes a free Open Port Checker. Open Port Checker is the only online port checking tool that has Guaranteed Results.
Other Guides You May Be Interested In:
- We have software called Network Utilities that do all of this and more.
- Learn more about how to Setup your router.
- A full listing of all our games and applications that require port forwarding.
