Port forwarding is a nightmare

Ok, I have a really annoying problem. In short, I want to host my own game server for other friends to join. The ports I need are 28960 (TCP) and 20500,20510,20600,20610, 28960 (UDP). I have a ZOOM X4 modem/router with 3 computers connected to it. I have followed ZOOM's help guides EXACTLY to forward the ports to MY LOCAL IP (which is 10.0.0.7). So, information for those ports should be allowed for me, right? wrong.

I go to www.canyouseeme.org, check if 28960 is open, and it returns with:

"I could not see your service on 82.153.104.179 on port (28960)
Reason: Connection refused"

However, other ports that are forwarded DO work properly! For example, eMule (p2p file sharing) uses ports 4662 (TCP) and 4672 (UDP), and I follow the EXACT same port forwarding routine as I do for the game host ports. Emule has built in port-checker which gives the green light and says the ports are open. However, CANYOUSEEME.ORG doesn't say they are open it's just:

"I could not see your service on 82.153.104.179 on port (4662)
Reason: Connection refused"

But theres more. Today I found 3 extra rules that ZOOM had on default. These rules blocked ports 21, 23 and 80. I have deleted these rules and these ports are now open. CANYOUSEEME.ORG comes up with:

"I can see your service on 82.153.104.179 on port (21)
Your ISP is not blocking port 21"

Does anyone have a clue what I'm doing wrong? I've been trying for about 6 months to get an answer to this. No, I don't have windows firewall on, or any firewall for that matter. And I only want to forward ports to MY PC, so that I can host a game server.

Thanks to anyone in advance who read this and is now trying to figure out what the hell I'm talking about :giddy:

Could it be the Firewall on your machine blocking the requests ?

Nope, Zonealarm is off entirely, so is the windows firewall

good reasoning on (c). 21 is ftp, 23 is telnet, 80 is http(web server); strongly suggest you restore those rules.
the reply on (c) gives you a hint re ISP ability to block ports at will.
as a non-hosted, ISP client, the EULA usually forbids running any services on
your system (you need to purchase a service upgrade). ports above 1024 can
be used and you might get away with it, but in the end, they find you by monitoring
bandwidth consumption -- so be advised -- you might even get totally disconnectd :dead:

that said, make sure you perform your testing with the application running!
a reply like connection refused says there's no application to make a reply,
while a reply like Connection timed out says the modem/router did not
forward and applied 'the default rejection rule' -- in this case a stealthy IGNORE

I didn't know the ISP could actually do that, nor that it was something frowned upon. The reason I've deleted the other rules was that I need to upload via ftp and the user manual said to remove the rule.

I see what you mean about the program having to be running. Just tried 462 with emule running and it gives the green light, so i'll try the game next.