What are /r/Torrenting's favorite Products & Services?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

Yes! You should get a VPN when torrenting! There are many reasons why you need one You might need one depending on what type of content you're going to be torrenting, and because people can see your ip in the peer list, along with everyone else's that is downloading the torrent When you join a torrent along with others, there is a peer list, which displays everyone, or mostly everyone's ip's in the list, including yours, which is why you would need a VPN, and also because on what you might consider downloading The best VPN's in my opinion would be PureVPN and IPVanish, but there are many other great ones to choose from Keep in mind that torrenting itself is legal, depending on what it is that you're torrenting, so if you're just torrenting a piece of free software, then that is legal, but if it is needed to buy or anything like that, then yeah, but getting caught is not really easy, you just need to be smart about it, and make sure you hide your ip, and don't torrent a lot, and if you're torrenting something that is okay to torrent, then you're going to be fine, but you can still use a VPN to display your VPN's ip in the peer swarm list.

First you need to set up a DHCP address reservation to make sure the computer(s) you use to torrent always get the same address on your LAN.

Then you need to have port forwarding set up on your router. When configuring make sure to choose a port above 1500 (up to 64000.) Then go into your torrent client and make sure the designated port your client is using is the same as the port you configured on your router. Alternatively you can check the port on the client first and configure the router to match.

Once you've made these configuration changes using the diagnostic sites you're linking will be easy to figure out.

That's how your network should be configured. However, there are other limitations too. Maybe your connected seeders/peers can only muster the speeds you're seeing. One has zero seeders/peers meaning it's (most likely) a dead torrent. Your VPN may be throttling your speeds (make sure you're not violating their ToS.) Your client's bandwidth restrictions may be more restricted than you're aware of. Etc.

You're network being correctly configured is only half the battle. Everything between you and all the separate connections you're making needs to be on the up and up. That's a lot to ask and you have control over so little of it with torrenting. Not knocking torrenting, it's just a condition of use. It's a fantastic protocol even when shits not perfect.

Here is a consensus based on my own research on reddit.

Nordvpn, surfshark, cyberghost are the most popular on reddit with good reviews. These will be fine for 95 percent of users. Other runner ups and special mentions: Windscribe, Mullvad, PIA I got about 70 percent off using this Link

It depends in each country specifically across Europe. There are countries where torrenting is rather quite restricted like Germany but then there is also for example Switzerland which is one of the safest and most relaxed country when it comes to torrenting.

I would say - choose your VPN wisely. And would also suggest to check P2PGuru.com which will help you how to do it and download safe torrents only.

What do you think about ProtonVPN? My biggest attraction to Proton was that it’s a Swiss company that operates under Swiss law, meaning if legal actions did ensue they wouldn’t have to comply with a US court order. Are there better or “more safe” torrenting platforms to use than BitTorrent or UTorrent?

Use a paid VPN with zero logs, and sleep that much easier about it. Always remember that, generally speaking, if you aren't paying for something, you (or usually your data) are the product.

I use NordVPN and haven't had a single issue since. They have a separate P2P server option specifically for file sharing, so you can't really get in trouble for "bogging" down the service. Nord also has the option to cut your internet if the VPN connection ever drops, which is pretty nice.

For torrenting I'd recommend qBittorrent. It's free, open source, and doesn't come with any bloat like uTorrent. You should also bind your torrent client to your VPN network adapter, as an extra layer of protection. That way, your client can only ever communicate through the VPN. No accidental seeding over your normal internet connection.

I ran into that issue when I tried to point to a ProtonVPN server that wasn't designated for P2P traffic. They're poorly marked, but you can't use Secure Core, and have to give a specific server that's designated for P2P. I think they're only Iceland, Switzerland, Sweden, and Singapore servers. I personally use the Iceland one from my system in the Western US, and I get full speed without lock ups on well seeded torrents.

ProtonVPN and PIA are some of the few I've found that allow P2P traffic under their TOS. Almost every other VPN provider explicitly said they'll kick you off if they detect it. I know ProtonVPN offers a free tier, but I don't know if that tier includes P2P. I don't know if PIA has a free tier.

Both are recognized as very good for anonymous connections. Neither keeps logs. ProtonVPN is hosted from Switzerland, but had an option to route all connections thru the country of your choice. PIA is technically an Indiana (USA) company, but it's recognized by the community as private.

EDIT: update with anonymization info

I had PIA vpn (Private Internet Access) and still got a copyright strike for an ebook. Immediately switched to Surfshark and no issues.
It really doesn't matter how long you remain seeding (aside from the law of averages) you are exposed the whole time.

I think it's better to use a paid VPN honestly, but if you really want a free one, I think ProtonVPN would be alright

The best ones I have used though have been Zenmate and NordVPN

I've always torrented with a VPN and have never gotten any notices at all

I use uTorrent, pretty standard but it works, FrostWire is great too, just check your settings and see if its configured properly to randomize ports on each startup and stuff like that and blocking unencrypted requests

When you finish torrenting, you can leave it seeding, just dont seed when your VPN is off

I'd say it's pretty safe as long as you have a VPN, you should be alright