Rather specific networking help? -- Ports, Router, VPN

happycowdance

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Jun 15, 2015
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Hello,
As the title of this post indicates, I have a rather specific request for networking help. I'm currently using a Linksys E3200 router, a Motorola SB 6121, Windows 8.1, and using Private Internet Access's VPN. I'm trying to download a torrent using Deluge, but I get no peer connections. I've followed the directions on PortForward.com for port forwarding and setting a static IP on my windows machine, but no matter what I do -- which ports I pick, which static IP I set -- no Open Port Checking tool I've used can see my machine through the ports I've opened. Can anyone help me with this? I'm not super network savvy, so I don't know if there's more information I need to include in this post to properly help you to help me, but if there is, please let me know. Thanks very much in advance for your time.
 
Once you have VPN, you don't need port forwarding on your side - you are getting an IP address from your VPN provider' IP address space. If this IP address is public IP, you don't need port forwarding. If this IP address is private, you are out of luck.

So - try your setup without VPN, this is when portforwarding on your router could help (altough you don't need this for Torrent protocol to work, unless you are using some greedy tracker).
 
Thanks for the response, Alabalcho. Two follow-up questions, if I may. 1) Is there a way to definitively find out whether the IP I'm getting from my VPN is public or private? 2) Do you mean something other than 'private tracker' when you say 'greedy tracker'? Or are those the same thing?
 
1. WHen you establish VPN connection, execute "ipconfig" from "Command Prompt", and look for section which starts like "Windows TAP / tunnel adapter" something like that. The IP address listed there is the IP address you got from the VPN server.

2. I am not into torrenting at all, but I whenever I used it for some Linux distro, the client kept going even without port forwarding, with a notice like "for improved performance blah blah enable port forwarding". But some trackers might require that your torrent client is directly accessible (which is my definition for "greedy")
 
your isp might be throttling p2p connections which are used for torrenting. mine does but only on upload and only at peak times. i'm not sure if vpn's bypass this or not but if they don't it could be cause of your isp. also you need to make sure the thing you're downloading has enough seeders/peers or you'll get shit speeds no matter what. also check whether you get bad speeds with/without the vpn. hope i helped.