Opening ports not working

The AEBS must be the one and only router in the network and get the public IP on the WAN interface.

Is it??

When you test via tools on the network they are testing for response.. they are therefore useless if you are not running anything that is responding.. so there is only way to test..

Use a wan connection.. neighbour or like a tether to you iphone and test if you can access the application remotely. Test the actual application you want with the computer ready to receive connections is vital to know if this is going to work.

If not tell us exactly what application and ports your trying to open.. eg FTP doesn't work in apple routers now. You cannot port forward FTP because apple block it. Passing html can also be plain difficult. Some other ports like SMB are blocked by ISP.

Are you getting a fully routable public IP from your ISP.. some cheapo ISP now use private IP addresses.. or your ISP can use transparent proxy and mess things up.

Remote access is never a simple thing.. because most users do not buy business accounts with static IP designed for remote access and so the ISP will do their best to make sure you pay the extra for running servers, which is what you are doing.

First thing to check is your modem. Can you provide the make and model number of this device, please?

Next, do you know if you have a Public Static IP address that has been assigned to you by your Internet Service Provider (ISP)?

You can see your IP address by opening AirPort Utility and clicking on your AirPort Extreme. The IP address should NOT be anything like 192.168.x.x, 10.0.x.x or 172.16.x.x. Please confirm on that, but do not post your actual IP address here.

You will need a Static IP address if you want to be able to connect back to your network from the Internet. Check with your ISP to see if they can help out on that.

Then, if you can answer LaPastenague's questions, we will know a bit more about what you are trying to accomplish.

Maybe you could post a link for the device that you are trying to set up with manufacturers set up instructions for port mapping?

As I type this, I am at a coffee shop, but I am connected back to the Time Capsule on my home network and can see the files on the drive if I want to.

I tried two different "port checkers" and both told me that the ports to the Time Capsule (Public UDP 8888 and TCP 8888, and Private UDP 548 and TCP 548 are closed, yet things are working fine. So, I would not really rely on any of the "port checkers".

When the settings are right, things will work. That is the "test".

Now, my AEBS is the only router in my network, the modem I'm using is also a router, however, I have it set in bridge mode so the router functionality is fully disabled.

Although the router might be set up in bridge mode, it is possible that a firewall setting is still enabled, which is blocking connection attempts. I don't know how you would check that without going back to the original settings of the modem/router though.

I'm not familiar with the Smart RG product that you have, and I'm not a gamer, so don't have a device here to test. I can probably help if you are trying to access the Time Capsule over the Internet, or another USB drive connected to the Time Capsule.

Well initially I was trying to set some ports for VNC, it said I should open 5900

Getting VNC working is more than just opening ports though so you need to pursue it via logs and things to ensure all the different issues are clearly working..

As far opening ports for PS4.

I also tried opening some for my Playstation 4, so I found a list of ports that should be open and set it up, but again, it just didn't seem to ever show as open.

The only place to test that on is the PS4 itself.. and that is after a full network reboot and ensure the PS4 is the first device started after the reboot (so nothing else can grab a port your PS4 needs .. macs can do it via NAT-PMP and you won't even know.

Restart in this order.

1. Modem.. wait 2min ..

2. Apple router.. wait another 2min.

3. Start the PS4 and try to get online and play a game..

totally ignore online port testing.. totally utterly useless.

Post a traceroute to google DNS server for us so we can see that your ISP is not diverting or causing issues.