I’m considering ProtonVPN to replace mullvad as they do have port forwarding for torrenting. I also did a quick search for VPN communities, but didn’t find any. Maybe just not from my instance.
Just wondering if they’ll end up axing port forwarding, if I pay for a extended length plan and then they axe the feature, I will have wasted quite a bit of money. At least with mullvad, it was monthly anyway, so not much to lose.
You really don’t need port forwarding for torrents. If you want to pay for it windscribe and airvpn have worked for me in the past but ive never had a problem with downloading or seeding without port forwarding.
I am aware of that, however, I want to be as discoverable as possible so that other people without port forwarding can connect to me, increasing my capacity to share and care.
Is port forwarding actually needed for downloading? I thought torrenting used automatic ephemeral ports that stayed alive while you’re connected to the swarm (I am talking out of my ass, I don’t know how it works, I just know I’ve never needed to port forward for torrenting).
Does this Mullvad change entirely kill torrenting? Or does it only stop initial seed torrents?
No it doesn’t stop it, just seed torrenting as you say. Makes it harder for others to download from you if they too do not have open ports. Got to facilitate sharing is caring.
A VPN acts like a NAT layer, so you basically have to open a port forward in order for traffic to dial your number, so to speak.
It may be in your case that you have UPnP or similar set up, so that your router automatically picks up your open port. Not viable for VPNs which tend to service enough clients to qualify as CGNAT, so we set up fixed ports.
Edit: Looks like I was wrong about not viable, seems like ProtonVPN has a NAT-PMP switch in their config
I believe if no one is having port forwarding (for instance for torrent where there is only a few people) it’s not possible for peers to connect between themselves?
That’s correct, one side needs to have an open port. Side channel messaging solves who connects to who regardless of the one doing the downloading, but one must. Thus, being able to open publicly accessible ports is parrrt of people a good pirate citizen.
Ah, I see. It’s probably likely that these changes will affect ProtonVPN at some point (probably not for another year), but if their track record is any indication, they’ll probably only disable it for VPN servers hosted in copyright-hostile jurisdictions, and leave some VPN servers open for torrenting in countries that don’t care. Hopefully, anyway…
Yeah, they had authorities at their door, because it sounds like some bastards were using port forwards to serve CP. Dickheads ruining it for the rest of us is how it’s been described. It may well become a lot more common as providers try to shield themselves from discovery (which they can’t provide for with no log policies), authorities being frustrated and then compelling them to do more.
Oh right… it’s about more than free games these days :/
It may be in your case that you have UPnP or similar set up, so that your router automatically picks up your open port. Not viable for VPNs which tend to service enough clients to qualify as CGNAT, so we set up fixed ports.
Torrenting is entirely blocked by my router, both via all known ports and through deep packet inspection (but very basic DPI, it can’t detect it through a VPN).
So I’ve got a box with an always-on VPN and I’ve never needed to forward any ports. As far as my router is concerned, this box is only communicating with the VPN server over a single port that isn’t forwarded, just your standard UDP-to-UDP ephemeral port. So if there is any UPnP or fancy NATing being done, I guess it’s automatic on the VPN server 🤔
Torrenting is entirely blocked by my router
Don’t use the router provided by your ISP, buy your own.
Could be intentional to prevent torrent leakage direct from your IP too. Could potentially also not have a choice, due to proprietary configurations, cable modem or whatever.
I did. I put that block there :p
I use Proton and it pretty fast IMO even without port fowarding since I can’t use it.
And it has special option that prevent tracking in the event of a warrant to get your IP and also a system to avoid streaming service blocking VPNs’ addresses
My second point, if you’re on Linux, don’t expect all the options proposed. The Linux app is pretty bad for now. No port fowarding, no split tunneling. Just kill switch
They supposed to remake it eventually… but it’s been a while
So I recommend it if your on windows or Mac.
With Linux it’s usable but for the price, It’s not good
That being said, you can apparently use openvpn app to use it with more options, but I hadn’t have the time to try it yet.
The cli Proton is supposed to have more options but I couldn’t make it work even by following the doc. I might be the problem on this one.
Edit: typo
Ah thanks for the review, Linux is 100% relevant to me.
I haven’t used Proton, but they provide Wireguard configs which you should be able to use with anything that supports Wireguard (either on a Linux desktop, or on an open router like OpenWRT).
Yes of course. Configuration of port forwards and split tunnelling etc are outside the scope of wireguard though.
Ah my bad, reading multiple threads at the moment and missed the context.
If port forwarding is essential, then AirVPN is probably your best choice. I’ve been using them for years (including port forwarding) and I have no complaints.
Proton will let you mail them cash like Mullvad so that seems like the logical choice
Interesting, protonVPN is shown with a beta port forwarding, dynamic. Maybe I’m wrong about static/dynamic fowarding ports. Dynamic ports might actually help them not get hit by CP distributors, as a dynamic port isn’t something that can be bookmarked.
Edit: Yeah I see in their doco NAT-PMP. Guess I was straight up wrong about that stuff haha (sorry @[email protected] . I’m feeling more confident about proton now.
Just learned about this myself. Damn this sucks. They were the best IMO.
I’m happy with IVPN. Very ethical company
