It's not right and the program I'm trying to connect to i...

[drukes1234]

It's not right and the program I'm trying to connect to it doesn't connect because it isn't right

[mdk]

@drukes1234 -- what is the 172.0.0.1 that I was given ?

Is that a "typo" ?  You previously mentioned "127.0.0.1", and I explained that this is the "loopback" IP-address that is used when a TCP/IP-using "client" task on any computer wants to interact with a TCP/IP-using "server" task on the same computer. The software on the computer "bridges" the communications between the "client" and the "server" task -- the IP-packets are never sent out to the network adapter on the computer. The IP-packets just "loop back".

> 10.0.0.172 cannot be right 

All the IP-addresses assigned to your computers on your private network are assigned "10.0.0.xxx" IP-addresses by the BlueCurve's DHCP-server. From a computer inside your network, logon to "10.0.0.1" and view the table of IP-addresses and computer-names that are active.

What "service" running on your "10.0.0.172" computer do you want to be accessible from computers on the Internet? A game-server? A file-server?

[drukes1234]

Yes sorry typo, 127.0.0.1 - i have a program for equity trading that connects to my broker and it has to do so via tcp/ip but the program cannot connect when i put 10.0.0.172 as the address to connect to. The iteration that works, when I first port forwarded a month ago, connects via 127.0.0.1 just fine and that was the address shaw gave when I port forwarded. I'm not sure what address I should be putting in the software to have it connect. 

[mdk]

@drukes1234 -- I need an IP address to have my program connect to 

Any computer on the public Internet network that wants to connect to a specific service on a specific computer inside your private network needs to know the "public" IP-address that Shaw has assigned to your BlueCurve device, plus the port-number of the service that your specific computer is configured to "listen" to.  Then, you must configure "port-forwarding" on the BlueCurve, to allow traffic on that specific port to be routed to the private IP-address of a specific computer inside your network.

The easiest way to find the public IP-address is to access the www.who.is website. It will display Your IP address is aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd

Compare to trying to visit a lawyer who rents some office-space inside a commercial building. You need to know the street-address of the building (the public IP-address), and you need to know the lawyer's office-number (the port), and you must convince the security-guard at the entrance to the building (the BlueCurve) that you want to visit ONLY the lawyer's office. Get the wrong street-address, and you'll never reach the lawyer's building. Get the wrong office-number, and you'll never reach the lawyer.

[drukes1234]

Thanks, I'm sorry for the stupid questions but then why is the first iteration when I tried this connecting to 127.0.0.1 and not my public IP address?

[mdk]

@drukes1234 -- i have a program for equity trading that connects to my broker, and it has to do so via tcp/ip but the program cannot connect when i put 10.0.0.172 as the address to connect to.

If that program is running on your computer, you don't need any port-forwarding at all.

Compare to using a web-browser to access the broker's company web-site -- you initiate the dialogue, and the BlueCurve sends your IP-packets to that web-site, the web-site sends its responses to the "public" IP-address of your BlueCurve, and the BlueCurve recognizes (through NAT -- Network Address Translation) that the incoming traffic is the expected response to the IP-packets that you sent, and your web-browser receives the information from the broker's web-site.

You need port-forwarding only when you are running some "service" on a specific computer inside your private network, and you want some computer on the public Internet to initiate the dialogue with your computer. Compare to you trying to initiate a visit to your lawyer's office -- you need the street-address, and you need to know the office-number, and you need to get through the security-guard at the building's entrance.

Maybe, you need to talk to the broker's technical support department, to correctly configure your equity-trading program. You need to configure the program on your computer to connect to a public IP-address supplied by your broker's technical support staff, not to a "private" IP-address inside your network.