Java NIO Selector doesn't work when not using localhost

I've been working on a program that uses networking with Java that uses the NIO Selector following this tutorial and for some reason when I try to test the program with my friends (that are far away in another network) it doesn't work, even though when I try to test it myself on only my computer it works perfectly.
Here is the relevant code for the question:

Class EchoServer (a Thread):

private Selector selector;
private ServerSocketChannel serverSocket;
private boolean stop = false;
private List<String> pendingStrings;

public EchoServer() throws IOException {
    // Get selector
    this.selector = Selector.open();
    System.out.println("Selector open: " + selector.isOpen());
    // Get server socket channel and register with selector
    this.serverSocket = ServerSocketChannel.open();
    InetSocketAddress hostAddress = new InetSocketAddress("", NetworkingSettings.PORT);
    serverSocket.bind(hostAddress);
    serverSocket.configur eBlocking(false);
    int ops = serverSocket.validOps();
    SelectionKey selectKy = serverSocket.register(selector, ops, null);
    this.pendingStrings = new ArrayList<>();
}

@Override
public void run() {
    while (!stop) {
        try {
            update();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

private void update() throws IOException {
    System.out.println("Waiting for select...");
    int noOfKeys = selector.select();

    System.out.println("Number of selected keys: " + noOfKeys);

    Set selectedKeys = selector.selectedKeys();
    Iterator iter = selectedKeys.iterator();

    while (iter.hasNext()) {

        SelectionKey ky = (SelectionKey) iter.next();
        if (ky.isAcceptable()) {
            acceptClient();
        }
        else if (ky.isReadable()) {
            readDataFromClient(ky);
        }
        iter.remove();
    }
}

Class EchoClient:

private SocketChannel client;
private InetSocketAddress hostAddress;
private boolean connected;

public EchoClient(String ip) {
    this.hostAddress = new InetSocketAddress(ip, NetworkingSettings.PORT);
    connected = false;
}

public void connect() throws IOException {
    if (!connected) {
        client = SocketChannel.open(hostAddress);
        connected = true;
    }
}

public void sendMessage(String message) throws IOException {
    try {
        byte[] messageBytes = message.getBytes();
        ByteBuffer buffer = ByteBuffer.wrap(messageBytes);
        client.write(buffer);
        buffer.clear();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        cleanUp();
    }
}

Now, it seems that the problem is in the server because I can't even connect to the server when my friend runs it (and I am the client). I suspect the source of the problem are those lines in EchoServer:

InetSocketAddress hostAddress = new InetSocketAddress("", NetworkingSettings.PORT);
serverSocket.bind(hostAddress);

But I can't seem to figure out what is it.

Important Note:NetworkingSettings.PORT is 80, I know it's a port used for http and maybe that is the problem, but I really want to avoid needing to use port forwarding and firewall settings.