"RoS discovered a number of new findings, and we would like to thank them for their thorough and detailed report. They stated , amongst other things that: that whilst they found some issues, that: “The Mullvad VPN relays which were the subject of this test showed a mature architecture…” and “During the test we found no logging of user activity data…”
Shame that they removed port forwarding, I’ll definitely stick with them if it’s not the case.
Whats so important about port forwarding on a VPN? Genuinely ignorant here.
If you’re doing a P2P related activity over a VPN (or otherwise), port forwarding is very important for improving speed or enabling the service at all. That’s because your router blocks incoming traffic from certain ports by default, ports that will be used with a P2P connection. To get around this, you can ‘forward’ a port that can be used for said P2P activity, letting your router know that the traffic you expect to see from a specific port should be let through.
You can simply leave port forwarding to your personal router, but if you want to stay anonymous while participating in P2P connections, then you’ll want to use a VPN service. If a VPN service doesn’t utilize port forwarding, then any P2P connections you use will either be straight up impossible, or very slow. For example, you wanted to host a gaming server without giving away your actual IP address, then a VPN with port forwarding is desirable. The same can be said for torrenting.
I appreciate the breakdown, but I meant i was ignorant on why port forwarding was important for a VPN :) Was still a great write up that should be used as reference for others! :D
I didnt realize you still had to port forward to get around ISP traffick shaping/blockage with a VPN. Thought the encrypted tunnel between you and the VPN disguised that, and any port stuff was done at their end, after exiting the tunnel.
If the VPN doesn’t use port forwarding, then they randomly assign a port. But P2P services expect to know which port they need to use, so getting a port assigned randomly is no good for said P2P services. You want a static port that is forwarded by the VPN that you can tell the P2P service.
So if you’re not using a P2P service that needs a port to access, then a non-port-forwarding VPN will still do all the usual encryption to disguise your activity as usual. But if you are using a P2P that needs to access a specific port, the P2P service will probably get blocked at the VPN’s port.
@Helldiver_M @Dubious_Fart @leraje actually the port forwarding thing is about accepting inbound connections. Without port forwarding, NAT routers (including VPNs) randomly allocate ports for outbound connections but still won’t accept inbound connections on those same ports.
There’s a trick where you discover the randomly allocated port numbers and then both connect to each other at the same time so both routers think it’s outbound. It works unreliably and BitTorrent doesn’t use it.
Why doesn’t the new UDP torrent protocol use STUN or any of the server- or peer-assisted ways of punching a UDP hole between two NAT-ed endpoints?
I found out about this port forwarding matter a few days ago and gave it a try with PIA, and was disappointed with the results, but I’d like to know if I did something wrong on my end.
I’m currently torrenting about 100 torrents in a VPS running Qbittorrent with a Wireguard config from Mullvad, and I’ve been able to get great speeds, about 500 Mbps at the highest.
The other day I set up PIA with gluetun, through OpenVPN, with port forwarding too, put all the 100 torrents in Deluge too. The upload speeds for seeding didn’t seem any faster, but the download speeds were not quite as good. It would top at around 200 Mbps, best case.
Out of curiosity I also tried wireguard configs from Windscribe, with no port forwarding though, and it would also top out at about 250 Mbps or so.
I’m currently back with Mullvad and Qbittorrent. It’s been working fine for months now, so I’m wondering if I’m really missing out without port forwarding.
Anyway, and tips or suggestions are welcome!
Yeah, it works fine for me, so…?
Jeez is this why my torrents slowed down to a crawl lately? I’m on Mullvad and wasn’t aware they removed port forwarding, or even really what port forwarding is until now.
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I was so happy with MullVad until the port forwarding removal. €5 a month regardless and a very easy to use website. I moved to a 3 year purchase of AirVPN but it’s a lot more finicky to use.
wait when did they do that?? I used to use mullvad port forwarding to ssh to my pc :(
A few months ago. They said that hosting companies and other providers were refusing to work with them if they continued with it as a feature.
It’s just too easy to abuse by bad people using it to host very questionable content. Lots of people then moved to ivpn and then they removed it too, for the same reasons.
So who’s left of the legit ones that offers it?
AirVPN is good so far
PrivateInternetAccess still supports it through most of their servers. I’m having success with them still
Oh dang. Was about to jump to Mullvad for that exactly. Sorry to hear it.
Ovpn.com still offers port forwarding however they were recently acquired by a us company which could be a red flag
can’t personally vouch but AirVPN still has PF if you need it.
The way they did port forwarding was so rock solid and stable being able to assign a port to your account and have it apply to any endpoint… but now that isn’t there I was forced to switch to ProtonVPN. Also my latest DL speeds with the closest node in my area with Mullvad WireGuard config is much slower than proton… sigh. I’ll keep what I already paid for on Mullvad but I won’t be renewing. 😢
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I switch back to PIA because of this. Been rock solid and very fast.
That’s probably fine for pirating stuff, but I hope you have no expectations of privacy. Terrible company.
Terrible how?
They were bought by an Israeli company that makes malware or adware.
Yea I know. Strictly for pirating. Used for Deluge and Arrs on my Unraid server
IF only they hadn’t removed port forwarding I would love Mullvad
At least they handled it well with plenty of notice and hassle-free refunds for anyone who requests them. I was sad to go but still support the company.
Where did you move to?
Airvpn - was the only suitable alternative. I miss mullvad but it works and unlimited port forwarding.
I moved back to Proton. But on Linux I still don’t know how to portforward now.
What do you use port forwarding for out of interest? I’m using mullvad and it hasn’t come up for me, but I don’t understand the use case.
I’ve only ever had to use port forwarding for gaming servers. In most other cases I’ve found better options
Such a good VPN for a really good price. I’ll definitely be renewing when the time comes.
10,000%
I’ve been using Mullvad on PC/android for years… Even since the port forwarding has been removed I still use it. Been considering Proton though.
Anyone here use Proton(free or paid)? How is it?
Service is fine, but GNU/Linux support needs improvement.
They just changed their TOS to forbid paying customers from seeking any form of judicial remedy, so you can guess the direction they’re headed.
Needless to say I won’t be renewing.
Can you expand on what you mean by that please?
Got a replacement in mind yet?
Oh shit, I missed that they axed the port forwarding. Good thing I already set up alternate tunnels.
They offer -10% on Monero!
Great product!
just switched to proton to save some cash but Mullvad have been great for years
Does ProtonVPN offer port forwarding?
Yes, but only on the paid plans
yes, but only if you pay, and the port you get isn’t static, so it changes every certain number of minutes, so you need to find or juryrig something to auto update your torrent client to the right port.
Air VPN looks like a nice alternative
Who?
Asked?
