does Vodafone allow port forwarding?

I've spoke with 4 Vodafone agents and all of which have given different answers if they allow port forwarding or not!

I'm looking at the 900mbps full fibre plan pro 3 package with ultra wifi hub 7 router, boosters and 4g backup for reference in the UK. About £35 a month

Does anyone have any experience with port forwarding on them? I can get a static IP but can't get anyone to give me a straight answer on port forwarding before I pull the trigger.

Anyone have any recommendations if they dont?

P.S I havent entered a contract yet.

Let's be clear what port forwarding is:

"Port forwarding maps an external port on a router to a specific internal IP address/port, allowing external internet traffic to access private, local devices like web servers, cameras, or game servers."

So it happens on the router. There are then 2 questions:

• Can you do it technically?
• And are you allowed to?

All complicated by you wanting a package with a router provided.

I would say that if it occurs on your estate, it is none of Vodafone's business, so you would be OK if you used your own router - subject to Vodafone not blocking any of the ports you are interested in. But once you take their router, you might find there is no facility to do it and they might not want you to either.

I would say go with an ISP who can give you the clear cut answer you want and get your own router if you need to.

There is a section of the browser interface on the older rectangular router for port mapping.

Posts on Reddit in r/Vodafone show that the Ultra Hub 7 supports port forwarding, manual or UPNP. However some sites say that the settings are only available on the mobile app while others say goto the "Expert" settings on the router.

I made it clear when I ordered their 910 service on City Fibre that I wanted a static IP and would use my own router, so that I could do whatever I wanted.

They were fine with that and I ordered the service with the cheaper router for £10 pm less.

I had to wait for the service to become active before ordering the static IP that was setup <12 hours later.

If you actually look at the links https://www.thinkbroadband.com/isps/vodafone/full-fi... https://www.thinkbroadband.com/isps/vodafone/full-fi... https://www.thinkbroadband.com/isps/vodafone/full-fi...
On all three networks you see that Carrier-Grade NAT (CGNAT) No

If there is no CGNAT, you should be able to port forward even if you don't choose the Static IP option! Usually speaking with Static IP address you don't have issues with port forwarding as the IP does not change.

With Dynamic IP address your IP does change when the PC reboots and often loses its port forwarding functionality. You can address this by setting your device network to a static IP and then port forward without issues. You can follow this guide here https://portforward.com/networking/staticip.htm

Works on any Windows. You can then download the Port Forward Network Utilities software to verify if the ports are open on your computer! If the port is closed despite port forwarding from the router then it means you are behind CGNAT or the router is faulty. But Vodafone does not use CGNAT on any of their packages including standard non Pro packages.

The Pro package is only designed to give you a better router with more WiFi antenas for stronger reception. If you use Ethernet cable then the Pro package is a waste of money as you'll be getting free Static IP with all packages. CGNAT is also not present in any of the packages unlike with Community Fibre for example, you are stuck with only 2.5/5Gbps Premium in order to have it removed.

The only time I had port forwarding issues was years ago with an old Thomson router supplied with BE Unlimited ISP, which no longer exists. I had to buy a Netgear router at that time to solve this. But nowadays ISPs supply better quality routers.