topic Re: Nat type in Archived Posts

Nat type

Flood2020 — Sun, 24 May 2020 21:30:19 GMT

Hi,

I have a 4GEE router and it won’t let me connect my switch to online play it’s saying I have a Nat Type C (which is closed) I need a or b to be able to online play!
I called EE and they reset all the settings as it should let me online play but it’s not can anyone help??

Re: Nat type

XRaySpeX — Sun, 24 May 2020 21:39:19 GMT

It's likely that you've come up against a limitation of EE's mobile network. The EE mobile network uses Carrier Grade NAT (CGNAT), which means that you don't get your own public IP address but share it with other users. So you can't be uniquely id'ed on the Net & therefore your LAN cannot be addressed from outside for unsolicited accesses. This is unlike fixed BB.

Re: Nat type

Flood2020 — Sun, 24 May 2020 22:02:29 GMT

Is there a way to change it?!

Sent from my iPhone

Re: Nat type

XRaySpeX — Sun, 24 May 2020 23:57:16 GMT

Not that I know of.

Re: Nat type

c_c_crazymonkey — Mon, 25 May 2020 07:31:09 GMT

Hi there,

I had this battle a few weeks ago (https://community.ee.co.uk/t5/4GEE-WiFi/4GEE-Home-WiFi-Router-Strict-NAT-Type/m-p/877029) and I was told the same thing. Frustrating I know. Seems like we're paying a lot of money for something we can't even use.

Re: Nat type

jamesmacwhite — Mon, 25 May 2020 08:20:18 GMT

I'm afraid CGNAT is common on mobile networks, because of the amount of individual devices requiring connectivity. Due to IPv4 exhaustion, mobile carriers don't have enough IPv4 space to allocate unique routed addresses, therefore they use CGNAT to share one across thousands. NAT unfortunately breaks end to end connectivity, which is what is often needed for the best experience in games.

The one solution to this is IPv6, but adoption of it is slow and most gaming platforms still use IPv4.

Re: Nat type

wfo123 — Wed, 27 May 2020 16:11:20 GMT

Is there an easy to follow step-by-step guide to switch the 4GEE router to IPv6?

I currently have a very disappointed 7 year unable to play Switch games online (Xbox works fine though).

Re: Nat type

jamesmacwhite — Wed, 27 May 2020 16:22:41 GMT

The 4GEE Home Router can support both IPv4 and IPv6 as dual stack with a bit of persuasion, however it might not help your situation if the Nintendo Switch is talking about NAT types that usually means it will be IPv4 based only which is where CGNAT is causing issues for you.

You can try changing the APN settings, but I'm not sure it's going to help. If the Nintendo Switch needs to make a direct connection to your device, with CGNAT in place it will break end to end connectivity and not be possible. The 4G network is different to fixed line broadband in this regard.

Re: Nat type

XRaySpeX — Wed, 27 May 2020 16:25:30 GMT

@wfo123 : See if the router has a Profile or APN where you can set APN Protocol to IPv6 but I'm not sure it'll help.

Re: Nat type

wfo123 — Wed, 27 May 2020 16:47:00 GMT

This is what I see - looks like there's an option to select IPV6. Should I try it?

Re: Nat type

jamesmacwhite — Wed, 27 May 2020 16:50:09 GMT

On the 4G Home Router I think it's called Connect IP Mode. The APN profile itself doesn't have an option to select the protocol, you change that within http://192.168.1.1/index.html#/mobileConnection

You have the option of IPv4, IPv6 and IPv4v6. Default is IPv4v6, I'd first try IPv4 only. If you set to IPv6 only, you'll likely break connectivity as it doesn't fallback, so most websites will not load.

Re: Nat type

wfo123 — Wed, 27 May 2020 17:11:16 GMT

OK - so IPv6 mentioned as a possible fix to Nintendo Switch connection issues may break everything else?

Has anyone had any luck with the Nintendo Switch and just IPv4 (my default setting is as you say, IPv4v6)?

Re: Nat type

jamesmacwhite — Wed, 27 May 2020 17:25:10 GMT

Sorry I should have clarified. I think the key issue with the Nintendo Switch is it's looking for end to end connectivity which isn't possible with EE 4G because of CGNAT. Because EE supports IPv6, this would be a way to have end to end connectivity, as you can get an IPv6 address that is directly routed to you (no NAT of any kind) however, this is only going to work if the Nintendo Switch itself support IPv6. As far as I can tell it doesn't.

You can try setting the Connect IP mode to just IPv4 from the default IPv4v6 mode, but I'm not sure it will help. In the past there have been reports of modifying the APN/protocol making a difference. Some have said it changes the NAT type reported, which was enough to allow online play. I guess there is no harm in trying.

Re: Nat type

wfo123 — Wed, 27 May 2020 17:58:26 GMT

Thanks for the clarification.

I tried IPv4 but this didn't work (Nat type stayed at C). I tried IPv6 and this didn't work (NAT type dropped from C to F...). Has anyone had any luck or is my 7 year old doomed to never play his friends online via Switch?

Re: Nat type

Flood2020 — Wed, 27 May 2020 18:00:55 GMT

thank you however its not letting me connect to this website what so ever just says re load!

Re: Nat type

Flood2020 — Wed, 27 May 2020 18:03:07 GMT

im currently having to use my mobile hotspot to connect (tesco mobile) luckily i didnt change to EE when i upgraded my 4GEE sim!

thats what is strange that its saying it cause its an open network but surely my phone is as open as that!