utorrent port forwarding?

xstinebob

I've tried going over the forum here but everything I read goes over my head. I'm utterly lost and confused trying to figure out port forwarding. I followed directions from portforwading.com but then my internet just stopped working all together. I'm very frazzled and could really use some help figuring this out.

OmniNegro

First thing you really need to know is that you DO NOT NEED port forwarding. Really. Port forwarding is used to allow easier access to your system from outside the VPN range, and is not going to make most things like torrents any faster or better. Furthermore it is a security risk. And the Client Support page says that as clearly as possible.

Think of it this way. If a dozen users are sharing an IP because they are sharing the same server, but one of them has a port forwarded and is torrenting with it, that is a dead giveaway that whomever is using that port in question is using the torrent in question. And if you do not have everything setup correctly to prevent this, this can and will be used against you.

If you are still interested in getting port forwarding working, you will need to tell us what client you use for the VPN, what torrent client, and what OS you use. And even that may not be enough o get it working.

Just do not bother if you only think you need port forwarding because someone somewhere said you do. There are plenty of people who think you need a new sports car or a new mortgage on your home. You do not likely need those either.

xstinebob

hmmmm, well the thing is I have fast internet, on my pc laptop had fast speeds and downloaded without any problems. now on macbook 13" 2010 and I'm getting 5.1k at the most and so I was told to port forward to get it to work. I use pia and as I said didn't have any downloading issues on my pc. thanks though, I didn't know where to start asking for help so figured I'd start with pia in case maybe there's something I'm not doing right.

OmniNegro

Alright. So you are using a Mac. What VPN client and what torrent client are you using?

And do yourself a favor. Try using a torrent that would not be a problem if you were caught downloading it as a test. I suggest Linux distos. Here is a good one. Most of the time you can max out the speed regardless of how fast your ISP is due to the huge amount of seeds. If this is slow, then something is very, very wrong on the VPN or torrent side. (This is the 64 bit Cinnamon version. They have many other versions too.)
http://torrents.linuxmint.com/torrents/linuxmint-17.1-cinnamon-64bit.iso.torrent

lrr100

Port forwarding allows you to connect to more peers in the torrent swarm, which allows you to download/upload faster.

When you enable port forwarding in the PIA client (click advanced to see it in the client settings) you can hover over the icon in the notification area by your clock and it will show you a port number. Then you put that port number into your torrent client.

bonesman

Hi all,

Having torrent speed issues too and thought ports might be the source. When I connect to this torrent:

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/alternative-downloads

Specifically:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/14.10/ubuntu-14.10-desktop-amd64.iso.torrent

without the vpn I max out my download connection (~64Mb/s). With the vpn on the fastest I can get is through the Netherlands @ ~12Mb/s, others run @ ~ 6Mb/s. I've tried enabling and disabling port forwarding but it doesn't seem to make much difference that I can see, other than utorrent indicating it's configured correctly or not port-wise.

OmniNegro: has anything changed recently with PIA setup? Above you say that port forwarding doesn't matter for torrents and on this post a few months ago you said it was probably essential:

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/forum/discussion/3463/clarification-on-using-proxy-w-vpn-why-port-forwarding-is-needed-and-dns-leaking

Wondering whether some kind of change has happened in last couple of months and I haven't setup right to take account of it?

Also just noticed that above you say port forwarding is a security risk and on the other post say it's trvial, again sounds like something has changed. Is it a bad idea?

Anything else I might be missing or are those speeds to be expected over the VPN?

Thanks

OmniNegro

Port forwarding is useful only for the uploading (Seeding) of torrents and other things. It can allow you to connect to peers you would not be able to connect to. But it is not essential because there are other more reliable ways to do most of what a torrent needs done.

As far as I know nothing has changed one bit.

tential

Just used port forwarding and it definitely boosted my download speeds.

My upload speeds haven't changed and I've been able to cap those out regularly but I also am connected to a lot of torrents so perhaps the benefit of portforwarding (being able to connect to more peers), wasn't necessary since I already was able to connect to enough peers to max out.

Crowley

Hello friends. Sorry to bother you

So I'm new, in ths VPN stuff and I need a little help:

1. Using uTorrent with PIA, what would you sugest: should I use both the proxy and the VPN, or only the VPN?

2. I know that PIA has the portforwarding option but shouldn't, the port, be forwarded also in the router? If not, how will it connected, bypassing the routers firewall?

Once again, sorry to bother you...Cheers 

Osborne_Cox

@Crowley, try using the VPN only first.

Port forwarding in PIA does not require forwarding ports in your router.

Also, make sure to disable NAT-PMP/uPNP mapping in uTorrent.

cosmoxl

@Crowley, if you've made a connection to the VPN all the router sees is the connection between your computer and PIA.  All data is flowing within the VPN tunnel.  The PIA server is where the firewall needs "bypassed", and that's what port forwarding does.

Xanx

I've lost connectivity with a tracker site I frequent. I've been trying to figure out this port forwarding fiasco for hours now. I'm a little confused at how the port forwarding in the PIA app works. I've checked the box in the advanced menu but am still getting nowhere. When I hover over the app tray icon I can see my IP address but I don't see the port in tool tips like it says I would.

I am unable to set a static IP which I believe is necessary for port forwarding.
Utorrent shows that everything is fine but my tracker site shows no connectivity, which as a dedicated seeder I need.

I'm running windows 8.1 64bit
utorrent 3.2.1(site requirement)

Thanks for your consideration and time.

Khariz

I've lost connectivity with a tracker site I frequent. I've been trying to figure out this port forwarding fiasco for hours now. I'm a little confused at how the port forwarding in the PIA app works. I've checked the box in the advanced menu but am still getting nowhere. When I hover over the app tray icon I can see my IP address but I don't see the port in tool tips like it says I would.

I am unable to set a static IP which I believe is necessary for port forwarding.
Utorrent shows that everything is fine but my tracker site shows no connectivity, which as a dedicated seeder I need.

I'm running windows 8.1 64bit
utorrent 3.2.1(site requirement)

Thanks for your consideration and time.

Try connecting to another server and give it a second.  Try Netherlands for testing.  It'll look like this:



You don't need a static IP, you just need to know that IP and port number.
Check out this article:  http://portforward.com/softwareguides/utorrent/utorrent.htm

Utorrent is listening at the other end of the VPN connection to the VPN's IP and Port.  Not your local port. 

Xanx

Khariz

I could kiss you. I've been using the wrong bloody server. It's working like a charm now.

Thank you!!!

Khariz

Khariz

I could kiss you. I've been using the wrong bloody server. It's working like a charm now.

Thank you!!!

Glad to hear it.  Even though PIA lists the servers that port forwarding supposedly works on, they are wrong on some of them.  For example, it doesn't work on North York Canada for me, even though it says it should.  I knew Netherlands works though.

Xanx

Khariz

I could kiss you. I've been using the wrong bloody server. It's working like a charm now.

Thank you!!!

Glad to hear it.  Even though PIA lists the servers that port forwarding supposedly works on, they are wrong on some of them.  For example, it doesn't work on North York Canada for me, even though it says it should.  I knew Netherlands works though.

I was using North York Canada. Go figure.

CN_Liberal

Is there any option for port forwarding when you're using the OpenVPN client that's built into pfSense?  I'm running Transmission-Daemon and using pfSense to forward all traffic from my TD over PIA.  Thanks!

VPN

@CN_Liberal: Sure, check out the pinned thread about port forwarding for advanced users.

Captain_Filth

Hey there, I just got PIA but it seems that it's not possible to get port forwarding on OpenVPN?, I use Deluge 1.3.12 as a webdaemon in a jail in FreeNAS.

If anyone has solved this issue lemme know.