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Does router need portforarding as well as VPN?


tireswing

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I'm running the latest build of utorrent on Windows 7 64bit. I connect to the internet via wi-fi and have a VPN, Privateineternetaccess. Often times torrents seem to download slower than they should and I'm wondering if I have the right settings. On the VPN manager I select a server that is capable of portforwarding and I configure utorrent to use the forwarded port. Shoud I have NAT-PMP port mapping or UPnP port mapping enabled? Also, do I need to forward any port on the router? It was my understanding VPNs traverse NATed routers so this shouldn't be nescecary. The green check mark in utorrent is always on, even if I'm connected to VPN that doesn't do portforwarding. Why is this?

 

maximum number of connections: 300

maximum number of connected peers per torrent: 100

number of upload slots per torrent: 4

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  • 4 weeks later...

i may not be the most experienced but i have set up a lot of networks for people. the speed is probably more to do with the vpn or private internet access. most routers i have seen, even older ones have a UPNP for port forwarding. it sets up everything for you for the most part. im actually leaching off a router(with permission) which connects to a repeater, which connects to a 2nd router. my internet is still lightning quick unless i use a anonymizer programs like the browser tor. remember though you are never really annonymous. there are almost always footprints to track a person. unfortunately i find the most secure some one tries to be, the more of a slowdown. kind of like if you have firewalls, virus scanners, etc running in the bg all the time, the slower your computer will perform. same thing with private browsing.

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I'm running the latest build of utorrent on Windows 7 64bit. I connect to the internet via wi-fi and have a VPN, Privateineternetaccess. Often times torrents seem to download slower than they should and I'm wondering if I have the right settings. On the VPN manager I select a server that is capable of portforwarding and I configure utorrent to use the forwarded port. Shoud I have NAT-PMP port mapping or UPnP port mapping enabled? Also, do I need to forward any port on the router? It was my understanding VPNs traverse NATed routers so this shouldn't be nescecary. The green check mark in utorrent is always on, even if I'm connected to VPN that doesn't do portforwarding. Why is this?

 

maximum number of connections: 300

maximum number of connected peers per torrent: 100

number of upload slots per torrent: 4

 

Use the following link to setup VPN and uttorent for PIA.

 

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/434/utorrent-install-instructions-for-proxy-proxychecker

 

Uncheck UPnP, NAT-PMP and Firewall Exception for true privacy.

 

Place you the mouse cursor over the PIA VPN app icon in the tray and you will see a port number.  Enter this number into 'Port used for incoming connections' within utorrent, otherwise port forwading won't work. PIA's VPN handles port forwarding and is not required to be set in your router.

 

In the BitTorrent section of the µTorrent preferences, set the Protocol Encryption's mode of operation in BitTorrent to 'Force'. By enabling this the cleint attempts to encrypt outgoing connections, and will NOT fall back to an unencrypted mode if the connection fails. You can set this to 'Enable' as most users do not set this to 'Forced'.  By using 'Enabled' allows you to connect to more peers.  You can see where I'm getting at here.  If you want a more secure connection with less peer connections then go for forced.  If you're using a VPN connection then you shouldn't worry too much, which one you use but it is up to you. You need to test either way and see if there is a real difference between the two in terms of how many connections you establish.

 

Uncheck "Allow incoming legacy connections" if you want your connections to be fully encrypyed. - Enabling it Allows µTorrent to establish unencrypted incoming connections. If disabled, any incoming connection that is unencrypted will be ignored. It is recommended that you not disable this option unless your ISP actively searches for unencrypted incoming connections, as it can significantly impair your ability to connect to peers.  If you're running utorrent over VPN, your connection is secure and encrypted anyway.

 

If you are using a VPN, the socks5 proxy is not required.  If your main goal for torrents is security, speed, and sharing back to the swarm, then do not enable the Proxy server options, as this will slow down your downloads, and inhibit sharing back to the swarm. PAI does not support incoming connections using their socks5 proxy service and therefore your DHT will be 0 and will always be waiting. If you want to hide your torrent traffic from your ISP, do not use the socks5 it does not encrypt the traffic it only masks the IP address. You can use the proxy service without the VPN, but it only masks the Ip address of the software you configure the proxy in.

 

There's also a firewall built into the PIA VPN. As long as you have the PIA VPN app running (not necessarily connected, but at least running in the taskbar), you're still fully protected by a firewall.

 

The PIA VPN app comes with some very hand but very important features and make sure you check these in settings.  Check 'DNS leak Protection', 'VPN Killswitch', 'Port Forwarding' and ÍPv6 Leak Protection'.

 

You can also use an IP blocker such as peerblock in case the VPN killswitch failed to work if your VPN dropped out and your internet was still running. Very rare but can happen.  Better to have some protection than none.

 

Hope this helps.

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