Fastest D-Link DSL-2730U Router Port Forwarding Steps

This D-Link DSL-2730U router has firewall that helps protect your home network from Internet access. The firewall does this by blocking incoming connections from the Internet that you may need to play online games or run online applications. To open these connections or ports you need to create what is called a port forward.

In this guide I will be showing you how to port forward on the D-Link DSL-2730U router. These steps include how to:

setup a static IP address on the device you plan on forwarding these ports to.
login to the D-Link DSL-2730U router web interface.
find the port forwarding page in the router's web interface.
setup a port forward for the online game or program of your choice.

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Step 1

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.

Use a VPN Instead

Have you considered using a VPN instead of forwarding a port? For most users, a VPN is a much simpler and more secure choice than forwarding a port.

We use and recommend NordVPN because not only is it the fastest VPN, it includes a new feature called Meshnet that makes forwarding a port no longer necessary for most applications. With NordVPN Meshnet, you can connect to your devices from anywhere in the world, completely secure, over a highly encrypted VPN tunnel.

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Write this static IP address down, you will need it later.

Step 2

Now we are going to login to your D-Link DSL-2730U router. Your router has a web interface, so you will login to it using your web browser. This can be either Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Edge. It usually does not matter which browser you choose to use.

Open up your web browser and find the address bar. It should look something like this:

Image of a browser address bar — Browser address bar

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 D-Link DSL-2730U IP Address is: 192.168.1.1

After entering the IP address of your router you can simply press enter. If all goes well you will see the following screen:

You should see a box prompting you for your username and password. Don't see a login box? Find out what your router's IP address is using this guide: How To Find Your Router's IP Address

The Default D-Link DSL-2730U Router Username is: admin
The Default D-Link DSL-2730U Router Password is: password

Enter your username and password, and then click the OK button to log in to your D-Link DSL-2730U router.

Having Trouble?

This is a pretty common place to get stuck. If you find yourself here, don't panic, there are a few things you can try:

First, check all the different D-Link default combinations. Here is our list of all known Default D-Link Router Passwords.

Second, try and guess what the password/username was changed to. Use our Find Password App to make this step easier.

Finally, if you still are stuck after trying both of the above options, it may be time to consider a factory reset. Learn more about this option on the How to Reset a Router page.

Step 3

Now let's find the port forwarding page. We begin on the Device Info page:

Begin by clicking the Advanced Setup option in the left sidebar.

You will now see a new menu. Select the new option of NAT.

Finally a new menu will appear again. Select Virtual Servers from there.

Click the Add button in the center section of the page.

Screenshot of Dlink DSL-2730U port forward.

Step 4

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 dot into the Custom Service radio button.

Enter the name of the program into the Custom Service box. It doesn't really matter what you put into this box, but something that will remind you why these ports are being forwarded is be a good idea.

Enter the IP address that you want to forward these ports to into the Server IP Address box. Note that if you are forwarding ports so you can run a program on a device other than your computer then you can enter your device's IP address into that box instead.

If you are forwarding a range of ports, enter the lowest number of the range into the External Port Start and Internal Port Start boxes. Then enter the highest number of the range into the External Port End and Internal Port End boxes. If you are forwarding a single port, enter that port number into the External Port Start, External Port End, Internal Port Start and Internal Port End boxes.

From the Protocol box select the protocol for the ports that you want to forward.

Click the Apply/Save button when you are done.

Your ports should now be open. It is time to test them.

Test if Your Ports are Open

Now that you have forwarded ports on the D-Link DSL-2730U you should test to see if your ports are forwarded correctly.

To test if your port has been properly forwarded, you can use our Network Utilities tool, which includes a free Open Port Checker. Our Open Port Check tool is the only online port checking tool with Guaranteed Results.