You may notice that the NAT type on your game console is moderate or strict, causing connection problems and preventing you from joining your friend's game, or starting a party with them.

So what do the different NAT types mean? Can you change NAT type? And what can you do to change NAT type on college Wi-Fi?

What Is NAT Type?

NAT stands for Network Address Translation, and it maps the private IP addresses of devices on your network to public ones.

Every network that can access the internet has its own public IP address, and every device on a network has its own private IP address. NAT is how most game consoles make peer-to-peer connections, allowing players to host matches, and join the player who is the host of the match.

What Do the Different NAT Types Mean?

The best NAT type is an Open NAT, which allows you to play with anybody who has an available NAT and lets you host matches.

Moderate NAT won't allow you to play with anybody who has a Strict NAT, and you are less likely to be chosen as the host of a match.

With a Strict NAT, you can only play with people who have an Open NAT, and can't be chosen as the host.

NAT being unavailable means you won't be able to use party chat or play multiplayer in some games.

The Xbox website lists troubleshooting steps you can take, but many of these don't apply to college networks.

Can You Change NAT Type From Strict to Open?

In theory, using a VPN could change your NAT type from strict to moderate, but would significantly degrade performance. You can take a look at some of the fastest VPNs, including free ones but using one on a game console is almost impossible without having a VPN on your router itself.

You should learn how to set up a VPN on your router, but there are many things to consider. Using a VPN may break agreements with your college, for instance, and connecting your own router to their network is even more likely to do so.

Missouri Valley College demonstrates that this limitation is due to Xbox, not the campus itself:

"The Xbox was designed for use in a home environment where it would be the only Xbox on that internet connection. A more open NAT type depends on all incoming Xbox Live traffic on that connection to be sent to a single Xbox console. With the large number of Xbox consoles sharing the campus internet connection, it is unfortunately not possible to improve on Strict NAT."

What Can You Do About NAT Types on a College Network?

Using a VPN on a game console is difficult to do on home networks. On college networks, it isn't realistically possible.

On any network type, the performance degradation may outweigh the NAT type change. Your college might have implemented steps to prevent VPNs and routers from being used on their network, and it may be easy to find the devices that are using them.

Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do on college Wi-Fi to change your NAT type. There are steps that can be taken on home networks, but none on college networks.