How is uTorrent Working Without Port Forwarding!?

[stevefoobar]

I'm a bit confused as to how uTorrent is working perfectly and reasonably fast in both down- and up-loads without me using port forwarding. As a matter of fact, not only am I not using port forwarding, but I'm not even allowing uTorrent an exception in the Windows firewall!

I've never used a P2P VPN before and this is indeed what I'm using now and I also have to admit that I don't fully understand how VPN is working either except that I've verified that it is working.

I wonder if the VPN completely bypasses the Windows firewall and the router. I can't think of any other explanation.

Does anyone know more about how VPNs and uTorrent work together?

Thanks!

[ciaobaby]

I wonder if the VPN completely bypasses the Windows firewall and the router.

It does.

[stevefoobar]

I wonder if the VPN completely bypasses the Windows firewall and the router.

It does.

This is rather confusing and non-intuitive. Since all my computers MUST go through my router since that's the only physical device I have on my network that connects to my ISP, It's not clear to me how this is possible.

Can anyone recommend a good site to read about how VPNs work in residential settings like I have? I'm sure I've got a pretty typical setup with a cable modem (Comcast) connected to a Linksys wireless router with 4 computers connected via either wire or wireless as well as two wireless steaming media devices.

What I'm finding on forums in general is that a lot of people know a little about VPN, port forwarding, and P2P clients but I've not found anyone yet that really has an in-depth knowledge and truly understands how all of this works.

One would presume the people that started, run, and support businesses like Private Internet Access, BTGuard, etc. (VPNs) and P2P clients like uTorrent and Vuze would certainly know but they don't respond--presumably because they are too busy.

Thanks.

[ciaobaby]

Since all my computers MUST go through my router since that's the only physical device I have on my network that connects to my ISP, It's not clear to me how this is possible.

Electronically, yes it does, BUT a VPN creates a PPTP (Point to Point Tunnelling Protocol) ENCRYPTED tunnel from the machines network card to the VPN destination. The packets CANNOT be decoded at ANY POINT in the tunnels route. This is why it is called a Virtual Private Network

What I'm finding on forums in general is that a lot of people know a little about VPN,

I find that people who us BitTorrent clients seem to know very little about the things that they use every day. I'm surprised that some manage to even start their computers up. But heyho! Each to their own.

and P2P clients like uTorrent and Vuze would certainly know but they don't respond-

Yeah, it's also a P2P help system.

[stevefoobar]

Since all my computers MUST go through my router since that's the only physical device I have on my network that connects to my ISP, It's not clear to me how this is possible.

Electronically, yes it does, BUT a VPN creates a PPTP (Point to Point Tunnelling Protocol) ENCRYPTED tunnel from the machines network card to the VPN destination. The packets CANNOT be decoded at ANY POINT in the tunnels route. This is why it is called a Virtual Private Network

Oh, so now I'm starting to understand. This is fascinating stuff. That does make sense now because the protocol is independent but of course, the electrical connection must still route from the network card to the router and cable modem.

That also explains why people on forums are freaking out about "trying" to make sure (using a fascinating assortment of methods) that their P2P client drops its connection the instant the VPN tunnel is broken, because there is still the underlying Ethernet connection and the application, in this case the P2P client, doesn't know the difference between being connected via the VPN or the normal path so it would otherwise just merrily continue down and up loading. Yikes.

Thanks for all the info!