Cost, ease of use, speed, other good features, etc.

    • foggy@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I’ll keep saying it.

      When I browse with mullvad I constantly have to verify that I’m not a bot.

      That’s a good sign

      Your account data is about is tangible as a fart in the wind, especially after 30 days. You can pay cash if you want.

      • Ilandar@aussie.zone
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        10 months ago

        When I browse with mullvad I constantly have to verify that I’m not a bot.

        That’s a good sign

        Isn’t that standard for most VPNs?

        • micka190@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Only if you have the appropriate level of privacy settings enabled (and extensions installed) in your browser. Your IP address actually has very little to do with ID-ing you, since most trackers will use hundreds of different fingerprinting methods to create “shadow accounts” of you using things like your system information, screen resolution, installed locales, etc.

          This doesn’t mean a VPN doesn’t help, though. Just pointing-out that you probably won’t be asked if you’re a bot if you go on Google while logged-in to a Google account, regardless of whether your VPN is on or not.

        • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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          10 months ago

          It just means your IP address is known as being a VPN address because someone else has used it there before (probably for something nefarious) or its in the known range of a set of VPN addresses. I don’t think it has any relation to security or privacy.

    • dana@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Note that Mullvad no longer allows port forwarding, which can make it harder to torrent effectively

      • Lemmy@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        Is it really that bad? I haven’t had any issues torrenting stuff with Mullvad, although I usually don’t torrent files above like 20GB

        • CalicoJack@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          10 months ago

          It reduces your available peers. You can’t connect to other people with closed ports, one side needs to be open.

          It isn’t a huge deal with popular torrents, but it can cause problems with unpopular/old stuff.

          • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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            10 months ago

            The size of the file doesn’t matter. Without port forwarding you won’t be able to use things like private trackers without running the risk of getting banned. There’s no reason to use a VPN without it if your goal is torrenting.

            • Paddzr@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              I haven’t got any private trackers and I want a cheap setup. The only thing I’m paying for is the vpn.

              Is the difference really that big and worth it?

              • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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                10 months ago

                I use AirVPN and it’s cheap with port forwarding. Without it, trackers will show you as unconnectable and nobody will be able to download from you unless they’ve set up port forwarding.

        • khorak@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          10 months ago

          I am seeding 70 torrents on a private tracker, most of it some niche stuff. It’s getting downloaded, but I have 0.00 seeded across all 70 torrents. I have no port forwarding. 1 + 1 = you need proton / airvpn.

        • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          At least one side needs an open port in able to connect. So if your ports are closed, you can only connect to seeds/peers who have an open port. Opening your port ensures you can connect to anyone.

  • nivenkos@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    ProtonVPN for port forwarding, Mullvad for easy usage (Wireguard on Linux).

    I use vopono on Linux too.

    • s3rvant@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      ProtonVPN works great via Wiregurd on Linux as well just not through the GUI; you can download the configs and connect through terminal or other Wireguard client

    • Ace! _SL/S@ani.social
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      10 months ago

      ProtonVPN also provides Wireguard config files if you don’t want to use their shitty python based GUI. Supports port forwarding aswell, althought it sucks to set up and requires to manually disable ipv6 support

    • butter@midwest.social
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      10 months ago

      I’ll admit, I have no idea what the benefit of port forwarding is. I use Mullvad in a Gluten container.

      • Oscar@programming.dev
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        10 months ago

        It’s when you open a publicly facing port and map (forward) it to a local port your machine. In this case, it’s opened at the vpn provider’s public gateway. Otherwise, it would typically be opened in your router instead.

        You can then configure your torrent client to listen on that local port that the public port is forwarded to. I think generally the public and the local port are the same number when using VPN.

        If you do that, then others have the ability to initiate a connection to you instead of only you being able to initiate the connection to somebody else.

        When seeding/leeching to/from someone else, at least one of you needs a port open. So, if you always have one open, you allow yourself to connect to anyone on the network regardless if they have one open or not.

        Sorry if I confused you more, I’m not that great at explaining.

  • Ilandar@aussie.zone
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    10 months ago

    Something cheap with port forwarding. I personally use Proton VPN but that’s because I use my VPN for more than just torrenting.

    • constantokra@lemmy.one
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      10 months ago

      The way they handle port forwarding is particulalry good, as compared with pia, that assigns a random port every time you bring up a connection, so you have to have a script to update your port in your client.

  • msmc101@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    10 months ago

    I’m using Private Internet Access. It’s fast and pretty lightweight compared to the other choices. Snagged a 2 year plan on sale for like 50 bucks.

    • Dem Bosain@midwest.social
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      10 months ago

      I was on PIA, but they were bought by Kape a few years ago. Kape, previously known as Crossrider. Crossrider, known primarily for developing adware and PUPs.

    • redcalcium@lemmy.institute
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      10 months ago

      In addition to getting acquired by a shady group, Mark Karpeles also works at PIA. I’m all for edemption arc, but that doesn’t mean I’m ok with him in charge of some security product. I dropped them for mullvad.

    • Cypher@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I use PIA as well but I have never seen good upload speeds through them, which is a shame.

  • shaytan@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    10 months ago

    It isnt the best one, but its cheap, allows port forwarding and its not sketchy as far as we know

    Air vpn

    • Syakaizin@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      You may want to take a look at Italy’s recent changes in legislation around VPNs tl;dr Italy’s government has an anti-piracy measure called Piracy Shield which is a list that needs to be blocked by ISPs, VPN providers etc but is entirely arbitrary with no governance.

      Air has stopped onboarding Italian customers but you may want to consider given they’re based in Italy, if this compromises your use case/opsec

    • atkion@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      +1 for airvpn. I’ve never had any issues, port forwarding works flawlessly, and you can get some incredible deals if you buy 3 years at a time during a sale.

    • lemerchand@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      I’ve been using it for probably 5+ years and it’s been great. I wish I could port forward to incoming 80 in my server so I could run a site while it’s up, but at the end of the day I can always run a site elsewhere.

      That aside, it’s never gone down on me, the speeds are fast, it auto-connects to the best server available, and they run lots of promos.

      • emax_gomax@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        You can port forward to another port without issue, then just route through to it from your server. Domain name lookups support explicit port lists. Although I’d suggest just buying a domain name, setting up dynamic dns through a raspberry pi and forward from your router to port 80. I use porkbun for the latter.

      • Lemmy@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        I’m wondering, is there any anonymous VPN that supports port forwarding to port 80? I’m thinking about self-hosting a website from my server at home under a VPN.

        • lemerchand@sh.itjust.works
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          10 months ago

          I haven’t looked thoroughly because at the end of the day I have like …another 2 years of airvpn credit and I’m happy enough with them that I could make a separate server for a website…maybe with the rock pi 5a I bought that I haven’t touched. My current server is mostly for media and…uhh…sailing, as well as syncing devices (sync thing), running a telegram bot, etc. I could use the pi for more public stuff. And not use a VPN.

          If you find a solution though, let me know!

    • viking@infosec.pub
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      10 months ago

      It’s based in the EU, and they’d have to comply with legislations accordingly. I’d never use anything not domiciled in sketchy islands.

  • Pilgrim@beehaw.org
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    10 months ago

    Proton VPN has been working pretty well for me. Includes port forwarding and a lot of servers.

    • nivenkos@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      On Linux you can use network namespaces for the same effect (and then a firewall) - this way it doesn’t affect other applications running.

      I do it with vopono.

  • Spectranox@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    10 months ago

    I pay for Proton Unlimited so I use Proton VPN. Getting port forwarding to work on Linux is a bit of a hassle but they have steps on their website. It’s hardly any slower than my internet connection, but that’s because I’m on the paid servers. The free servers are rather slow. They have a graphical client for Windows and Linux.

    Proton Unlimited is €12.99/month. The VPN has a good number of features and you get the whole Proton suite with it and 500GB of storage. You can pay for just the VPN which is cheaper if you don’t want the rest of Proton.

  • arthurpizza@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I went the seed box route and I’ll never go back. It’s faster and I don’t even need a stable connection. Start the download from my phone and it’s waiting for me when I get home.

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    10 months ago

    I use Windscribe because it’s $1/mo and I don’t care. I don’t use their software, I use the vanilla Wireguard client, and have my qBittorrent connect through that interface only.

      • thantik@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        If you choose ‘build your own’ plan, you can get it for $1/mo - and since I just got symmetrical fiber in my area, my internet went from $130/mo to $60…I figured I could “splurge”…