port forwarding problem with verizon quantum gateway router

windows 8
soulseekqt (newest version as of 20mar15)
basically...this is my problem....
i open soulseek
i check to see if my ports are configured correctly...they are
i run a search...start to download....about six tracks in, it will just pause and my line in the users queue will be 0 for the remaining tracks queued.
i check to see if my ports are configured correctly...they arent

ill close soulseek...open it back up 5 seconds later...and it begins to download again.

so...ive logged into my router as an admin...set up port forwarding...doesnt help. the portforward website doesnt have my router listed either (even if i know who made it...nothing is listed on the router itself and a call to verizon gave me a runaround and tried to sell me upgrades to my tv and phone)

should i try giving my laptop a static ip and then forward again?

thanks for any help