Need help port forwarding.

The response I was given was that I should make sure my Airport extreme is set to bridge mode (and run off my FiOS router), and port forward through verizon.

These are the correct instructions.

Upon changing it to bridge mode, it still worked but my connection was about 5 times slower

Once you did this, did you remember to power off both the Fios router and the AirPort Extreme......wait a minute.....start the Fios and let it run a minute....then start the AirPort Extreme and let it run a minute?

The AirPort Extreme should be faster in Bridge Mode....not slower.

so I've put it back to "Share a Public IP Address." How do I go about port forwarding in this situation?

Sorry, but you don't.

When the AirPort Extreme is set to Share a Public IP Address, you have a Double NAT error on your network. Port Forwarding settings will not work correctly with a Double NAT. You can confirm that you have a Double NAT Error on the network as follows:

Open AirPort Utility, select the AirPort Extreme and click on Manual Setup

Click the Status setting and you will see Double NAT there.

Apple's own instructions built into AirPort Utility tell you to set up the AirPort Extreme in Bridge Mode. Please do as Apple instructs.....you have been ignoring the instructions in AirPort Utility to configure the AirPort Extreme in Bridge Mode.

The Fios router must be set up to forward the ports that you need and the AirPort Extreme must be set up in Bridge Mode to allow the settings to pass through. Double NAT acts like a firewall.....it will not allow the port forwarding settings from the Fios router to pass through the AirPort Extreme.

IF.....it were possible to configure the Fios router in Bridge Mode (You can confirm with Verizon that they will not allow you to do this).....then....you could set up Port Forwarding on the AirPort Extreme.

Good luck on the Port Forwarding settings for the Fios router. Please let us know when you have things working in that regard.

Out of curiosity, what device do you have that requires Port Forwarding settings? A game console perhaps?

If the FIos router supports Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), it should automatically open the correct ports that a device requires.

Nice work! I take it that the speeds on the AirPort are back up to normal as well.