How I Fixed My Moderate NAT Type on Call of Duty with Sky Hub Max + Pod Booster

[B92Fried]

If you’re stuck with a Moderate NAT type on your PS5 and want it set to Open, here’s what worked for me. I struggled with this for days, especially when using an Ethernet connection via the Sky Pod Booster, but I finally figured it out.

What I Tried (What Worked and What Didn't)

1. Enabling UPnP – Didn’t make a difference.
2. Port Forwarding – No luck here either.
3. Setting a Static IP on PS5 – Caused startup conflicts.
4. Changing Wi-Fi Security Settings – Switching to WPA2 (recommended for PS5) seemed to help.
5. Placing the PS5 in the DMZ – This ended up being the key for me.

My Setup

• Sky Hub Max (Wi-Fi Router)
• Sky Pod Booster
• Ethernet cable from the Pod Booster to my PS5.

Wireless connections gave me Open NAT right away, but using Ethernet was more complicated and required these extra steps.

What Finally Worked for Me

1. Set Up Reserved IP:

   • I went to my Router.io page.
   • Found my PS5's IP address and MAC address (under Network settings on the PS5).
     • For Ethernet, I used the Ethernet MAC address. If you're on Wi-Fi, use the Wi-Fi MAC address.
   • Reserved this IP on the router for the PS5's MAC address.

2. Enable DMZ:

   • I assigned the reserved IP address to the DMZ in my router settings.
   • This bypassed the strict firewall rules and finally gave me Open NAT on Ethernet.

3. Change Wi-Fi Security to WPA2:

   • I switched the router’s security settings from WPA3 to WPA2 for better compatibility with the PS5.

4. Avoid Static IP on PS5:

   • I removed the static IP from my PS5 because having it set on both the console and router caused conflicts.

5. Test the Connection:

   • After making these changes, I went to Settings > Network > Test Internet Connection on the PS5.
   • My NAT type showed as Open both wirelessly and via Ethernet, on games like call of duty.

[Anonymous]

I spent hours trying to sort this. Tried everything you mentioned. In the end what sorted it was setting the firewall from Maximum security to Typical security in the router settings.

[MisterSmithson]

Hi, this didn't work for me, I have a reserved IP set up for my PS5 and set it as the Default DMZ Server IP address but I still get NAT Type 2 on PS5 network stats. I have also tried manually setting up port forwarding with the same results. I have disabled Broadband Shield. I have the Sly Hub 4.2 with an FTTP connection. Any help is appreciated. 

[Chrisee]

@MisterSmithson while there are complications with the white hub due to the method Sky use to issue IP addresses to these units there are no such issues with your Hub 4.2. IIRC UPnP is on by default on the black hubs so most games should play propely on the default settings so you should not need to fiddle with the settinhs

NAT type 2 is normal for any unit behind a router which does not offer a bridge mode where the console has the public IP address (NAT type 1). Sky's hubs like most routers carries out Network Advice Translation so the single public IP address Sky assign to your connections can be shared by all of your devices and most importantly external devices cannot  talk directly to devices with all of the security issues around that which the NAT and hubs firewall normally protect you from. Using the DMZ disables the firewall.

This article explains this subject in greater detail  https://portforward.com/nat-types/

[MisterSmithson]

Thanks Chrisee, Activision support told me I should be on NAT Type 1 or open but I guess they are trained on providing general support rather than PS5-specific. I now actually understand what NAT type means so thank you for the info.

I am still experiencing issues similar to the below when gaming though 😞

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/Online-gaming-lag/m-p/4521899#M369812

[Chrisee]

@MisterSmithson if your issue is latency then first place  look is the link between the PS5 and the hub if that uses wifi as packet loss etc can make online gaming miserable. If possible use ethernet rather than wifi. Powerline is a good second choice or improving your home wifi is a third choice.

If you share the connection with other people the hub can becomeca bottle neck as there is no QOS ability to prioritize gaming traffic. While the . Sky connection could introduce lag neither Sky or Openreach offer any guarantees and it is pretty unusual. Thst leaves server load and the routing from the server to Sky's network it is worth looking at the game firums to see if other players are getting issues and checking if another server might be better. Avoid servers in the US etc as thet inevitably adds latency.

[MisterSmithson]

Thanks @Chrisee, I play on a wired connection and there are other users on the network (including the Sky+ box), however, the issue occurs even when nobody else is in the house using the connection. I can't control the server I connect to as Call of Duty: Warzone uses SBMM, generally my ping (as reported in game) is anywhere between 8ms and 30ms and seems to be stable but my bullets just don't register, I lose audio queues for a few seconds, I try to loot but on the killcam (from the other player PoV) the loot has already despawned etc. Nobody else in the server SBMM connects me to seems to have the same issues. I know when it's server lag because I've had teammates lag at the same time as me but my game just generally and consistently plays poorly with no indication of connection issues.

I did try taking the PS5 round to my mums house, who is on a Virgin Media FTTP connection, and didn't experience the same issues. This was only for one night though. Thankfully I will be moving house soon so will be able to choose which broadband provider and package I am on, I think I may just have to give up on gaming until then. 

[Chrisee]

@MisterSmithson i am no expert on COD butvas you have a hub 4.2 try setting up a Broadband Quality monitor using the public IP4 address see https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality as that gives an idea of whether there are issues with the line. As i said getting anything done about latency issues isnt easy buybthe BQM does give evidencecyo at least try

[MisterSmithson]

Thanks @Chrisee, I started one up recently - https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/16024fc1ba7e2b894a9958ead021d88dc8...

Also included stats above, the uptime is low because I reboot regularly when trying to debug. I also have a network switch and have use a monitor port with wireshark which allows me to find server addresses, but they don't respond to ping and traceroute didn't seem to flag any issues (although it only seemed to show the path to the data center).

[MisterSmithson]

The packet loss at the start is before I enabled ICMP.

[Chrisee]

@MisterSmithson to my eye your BQM looks really good. You mention a network switch is that the msnaged or unmanaged type? There have been multiple issues with managed switches in the past with Sky hubs. Again not my field of expertise but correctly setting the mtu seems critical. This thread  maybe of interest as it is discussing issues with a PS5. 

[MisterSmithson]

Thanks @Chrisee, I will try lowering the MTU size to 1472. I have changed the setting in the past and didn't notice any difference but I can't remember which values I tried. I watched a YouTube video which showed how to calculate the correct value using ping with custom packet sizes.

It is a managed switch but I only used it whilst debugging, it's not connected anymore but didn't make any difference with regards to the issue.