You forwarded the ports perfectly, Dynamic DNS is updating, and the site still refuses to open from outside. Before you change one more setting, run this two-minute check: your ISP may have placed a second, locked door - carrier-grade NAT - between your router and the internet, and no key exists on your side of it.
CGNAT is the single most common reason home hosting 'mysteriously' fails, and it wastes more beginner hours than every other cause combined - because every setting on your router can be perfect while the block sits upstream, invisible. The check takes two minutes and two numbers. Do it before the full setup from the video, and you will know whether you are on the port-forwarding road or the tunnel road.
IPv4 addresses ran out, so many ISPs stopped giving every home its own public address. Instead, homes share one: the ISP runs a giant version of the same NAT your router runs, called carrier-grade NAT. Your router's 'internet' side is actually just another private network inside the ISP.
Now the picture explains everything: your forwarding rule opens your door, but the ISP's door in front of it stays shut - and only the ISP holds that key. A visitor's knock reaches the ISP's shared address and dies there, because the ISP is not forwarding anything to you.
192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1) and find the Internet or WAN IP address. Write it down.The WAN number itself often confesses before you even compare:
Notice what is not on the list: a router setting. There is no DMZ trick, UPnP toggle or firmware that changes the ISP's side of the line. Anyone selling you one is selling a story - put the effort into the three real options instead.
The hosting method in the video - local server, port forwarding, Dynamic DNS - is complete and correct whenever the WAN address is public. CGNAT does not make that setup wrong; it makes it inapplicable to your line until the address question is settled. Two minutes with this check tells you which world you live in, before you spend an evening debugging a door that was never yours to open.
Watch the video for the full setup - and if your check shows CGNAT, ask your ISP for a public IP or follow the tunnel guide in this series.
▶️ Watch Full VideoYes - any difference means they are not the same address, so a NAT layer sits between you and the internet. Numeric closeness means nothing; identical is the only pass. The good news is the same check confirms the fix the day your ISP gives you a public address.
Anything that needs the internet to connect in to you: viewing home cameras from outside, hosting game servers, some peer-to-peer programs. Everything you start yourself - browsing, streaming, calls, downloads - works normally, which is why most people never discover CGNAT until the day they try to host something.
No. The block lives on the ISP's equipment, in front of anything you own. Your real choices are a public address from the ISP, a tunnel that only needs outbound connections, or hosting the site somewhere else. Spend your money and evening on one of those three.