Port forwarding for SSH or remote access?

Hows it going all.   Been seeing quite a few people complaining about the switch that happened with port forwarding.

I'm attempting to SSH into a raspberry pi from a completely separate network, and every time i port forward the raspi, the port never opens on the router (tested with telnet and https://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/)

I went in (to the app COX support, because you blocked the firmware option that made it simple and easy), and selected the raspi, told it the port i wanted forwarded, and saved it.  I can now view it, and look at it, but not use it apparently?

Any ideas anyone?

I've tried PuTTy and just ssh through cmd/powershell.