I switched to windscribe last month because the proton CEO starting spewing politcal BS, and I wanted port forwarding that wasn’t locked behind a shitty GUI.
As far as I was concerned setup was super easy, the VPN speeds were great, and port forwarding worked really nicely. The whole price for a fixed server and port forward, + unlimited data was a bit much (at $95/year) but for the ease of use and speeds I was getting, I was happy to stick with them.
My setup is a always-on server with a 1gbps connection, where yes, I fucking seed my shit, all of it. I have about 30TB of linux ISOs and counting, and it’s rare that my combined upload speed is less than 1MBps, ever.
Which lead me to getting banned from windscribe with no notice or warning in the middle of last week. This lead to me having to spend tracker points to avoid HnR, and i’m also unable to grab any new ISOs until I find a new VPN provider that won’t ban me for actually using the service full time.
I did shoot them an email (after talking’ with their AI bot first), and they were actually helpful enough. The offered to restore support, so long as I promised to not torrent with them again (which, I honestly did promise not to. I’m not sticking with a VPN service that can’t handle me actually using it for what it’s advertised for) and they did unban the account. Whole email chain took about three days to get resolved.
My sticking point is that they still have instructions on setting up torrents on their own website, and that they specifically allow for unlimited data (with the plan i paid for) so long as it’s just one user. I did not break those rules. After clarifying that in the support email, they still said that I was using too much data (despite the unlimited data advertisement) and that torrenting was not allowed on their service.
TL:DR: Windscribe bans you if you use a lot of data, and support says torrents aren’t allowed, despite their website advertising such. Proof in the attached images.
If y’all have any other suggestions for a VPN that allow port forwarding i’d really appreciate it.
You’re going to be very hard pressed in finding a VPN that supports torrenting. People abuse it. That’s why mullvad pulled port forwarding support.
Additionally people misinterpret what they can do even if their VPN does support torrenting. It’s still illegal to use their service to torrent anything other than legal torrents…which almost no one does, which is why VPN providers aren’t lining up to show their support for the torrent network.
There are no services available to you that allow you indiscriminately to torrent illegal content. It’s always illegal and against TOS to torrent someone elses IP.
Mullvad didn’t pull port forwarding because of people abusing torrenting. They pulled it because interpol resorted to telling everyone to block their servers after mullvad wouldn’t/couldn’t assist in its investigation into csam sharing across forwarded ports using stuff as simple as the windows file and printer sharing system.
What caused them to pull port forwarding was the threat of being dropped from the routing table over stonewalling a police investigation into csam, not torrenting.
This is well documented and reflects the experience of many mullvad users including myself over the time period that it occurred. Saying that the decision had anything to do with torrenting is just false.
Mullvad didn’t remove port forwarding because people were torrenting too much they removed it because people were using it for real criminal activity like hacking and CP and they were getting heat for it.
I have no idea why you’re mentioning legal versus illegal torrenting as laws differ everywhere, they’re not banning OP for illegal activity, they’re not scanning all your files to determine whether it’s legal IP or not, and they’re banning him for using too much bandwidth.
Regardless of your personal feelings on the matter, pirating IP is illegal. The statement you just made is unabashedly stupid beyond all measure. Everything you listed are crimes.
There are less than 5 countries on the planet where pirating IP isn’t illegal. This isn’t a “well, it’s illegal in Arizona, but not in Idaho!” type of deal. It’s essentially illegal in every sovereign country on the planet save for a few.
This community is so incredibly naive and stupid sometimes. I swear to God.
Is there a “Confidently Incorrect” community here? Regardless, it always seems to be the most condescending people that make the most generalized and factually incorrect statements, then sneer at the person that was actually right… 🙄
It’s hilarious you keep making statements like this as every point you make has been shown to either be uninformed or completely false. I sense strong projection here…
Torrenting isn’t a crime and downloading others’ IP is also not a crime. Sharing others’ IP can be a crime in some jurisdictions. There is also a gap as wide as the Grand Canyon between sharing a Taylor Swift album and distributing child porn or hacking into government systems which is why I put a qualifier on my statement. I’m surprised a stable genius such as yourself couldn’t understand the difference. You’re basically claiming that speeding and murder are equivalent crimes here.
What exactly are you defining as illegal here and what’s the level of enforcement in all these locations? Weed is illegal everywhere in the US, and yet I have been able to drive down to a store and buy it for the past 10 years without issue. Once again you don’t seem to grasp what you’re discussing, and I notice that you conveniently left off the rest of that statement since you presumably can’t form a coherent rebuttal like we keep seeing in all of your other comments here. For someone who puts their intelligence in such high regard, your replies seem to be anything but.
Sweetheart, if you’re going to participate in online communication you need to keep up. And you need to read the entire statement and not just cherry pick like what you’re doing now. Not once did I ever say torrenting is illegal. I said very specifically an exactly that torrenting IP is illegal.
That’s not a contestable statement. It’s not an opinion. It’s a literal fact. There’s no politics here, where I say a statement that you disagree with and we agree to disagree. There’s no version of this where what I’ve said is wrong and you’re somehow correct. It’s a wholly truthful statement from start to finish… And you’re pretending like it’s not by cherry picking the very first part of it and convincing yourself that I’m saying that torrenting by itself is illegal and I think you know at least on some basic level of intelligence that that is not at all what I have said, and it’s concerning to me that maybe you don’t even understand that you’re doing it. It’s truly sad and pathetic thing to see…
My Man, unless you buy all the bullshit that YouTubers claim VPNs do, the only reason to get one is to torrent
Yes, most VPNs will allow you to do that just fine. And they exist for years.
This is one of the top 10 dumbest statements I’ve ever seen on the internet and shows a total and complete lack of understanding what a VPN is, and what it does.
There are currently 2-3 countries where torrenting IP isn’t illegal. Unless you have a VPN in one of these countries, there are no conditions where its “allowed,” because it’s entirely illegal. Even if it’s not expressly outlined in a services TOS it’s still illegal, and therefore not allowed. Even if they expressly permit it, it’s still illegal, and therefore not allowed.
I absolutely fucking beg you to use the brain you were given and stop embarrassing your parents who put time and energy into raising you.
Why are you moving goalposts? You stated originally:
MANY support it. Supporting something in of itself doesn’t speak to it’s legality.
I know they’re not popular anymore, but PIA supports it, was taken to court over it, provided nothing (no log service, so couldn’t provide anything) and walked away clean. You don’t get that if what they were doing was illegal. And if they thought the risk actually mattered, they would have changed their policy to keep their company alive. But they didn’t. So they support it (about as much as anyone would care to support it) and have been tested by courts.
The sad part is… if you had read the OP, you could have done 3 seconds of research and found https://windscribe.com/knowledge-base/articles/using-windscribe-with-torrent-clients/… Which is literally the VPN service being discussed EXPLICITLY talking about configuring torrent clients. Wouldn’t creating pages to support users who are looking for configuration for this “illegal” thing be direct evidence that you’re full of shit?
I absolutely fucking beg you to stop embarrassing the dictionary by learning and using words correctly, and to stick to the topic that you literally brought up.
There are no goalposts. This isn’t my opinion. It’s an incontestable fact that stealing IP is illegal in 98% of every country on this planet. You can choose to live denial in some virtual fantasy where you pretend that this isn’t true, but you can’t change facts. Period.
There is no VPN on this planet which “supports” theft of IP. There are providers which don’t actively seek to ban users for doing so. Which is absolutely not the same and you pretending that it is, is disgusting behavior. Truly infantile.
Yes you did. You switched from “supporting” to “illegal”. Which are two separate and distinct conception. Murder is illegal… How many people around these parts support Luigi? See… two completely separate topics.
Cool. Then next time don’t talk about “support” when you meant “legality”. And further please cite the 98% claim, as I will definitely contest it. And be careful to fall into the trap for countries that DO care about IP laws, but only within their country (China).
So you think they setup these torrent help pages and don’t expect people to use torrents in an illegal manner? Do you think that the Windscribe page wouldn’t come up in a lawsuit if they were dragged into one to put some onus on the provider themselves for supporting their users in the process of torrenting illegal content?
You think these companies are just stupid? You think they don’t recognize that capturing this group of customers is valuable to them?
I never weighed in on my thoughts on the matter at all. You have no idea if I support torrenting illegal content or not.
Says the person who’s failing to comprehend basic language and easy premises while claiming actual things that nobody else claimed.
Now that I have a bit more time later in the day…
https://privacysavvy.com/security/torrents/safest-countries-to-download-torrents-and-worsts/
And this is just the EU… You think ANY African or South American government gives a flying fuck? (Really the best you’ll find is that it’s illegal on paper but there’s virtually/effectively 0 enforcement).
You think most of Asia gives a flying fuck?
China as mentioned before only cares if you’re stealing from within China. Russia is the same in that they don’t care about outside companies but only if you hurt another Russia/friendly company.
To be frank, it’s only a handful of countries that actually care about international IP laws. You’re so far out in left field with your claims that it’s actually sad. It’s almost like you live in one particular country and assume the rest of the world is the exact same. When in reality the rest of the world really doesn’t care, like nearly at all.
Well then explain me why I would need a VPN in the year 2025 with encrypted connections and HSTS being the norm
It’s illegal, but in practice not enforceable if you hide between a VPN in another jurisdiction.
So in practice you can do it and nobody gives a shit.
To connect to a network, which is private and virtual. As the name suggests, this is the reason for which VPNs were invented and are still used today. Using VPNs for “privacy” is how they’re popularized for anyone who doesn’t actually know what they are and how they’re used. Which clearly includes yourself. To believe that there’s no legitimate use for VPNs outside of their layman’s usage is so incredibly fucking insane.
If you’re going to speak about something, do yourself a favor in the future and at least do a cursory Google search to find out what it is that you’re speaking about first so you don’t look like a total idiot. For fucks sake.
So you’re moving Goalposts again?
Nobody was talking about a VPN for accessing your private home or company network. Even you were talking about a commercial VPN Providers…
You’re really insufferable
Using a VPN for accessing your private, home or company network is the literal reason for which it was created and designed.
It’s in the fucking name, virtual private network. I don’t have to mention it like it’s somehow tangential or some kind of secondary and unused function of the technology. It is it’s literal primary focus.
I’m having a conversation with a literal child trying to explain to them the purpose of a network software that is self-evident in the fucking name of the software itself, and you have the balls to say that I’m insufferable? This community is fucking insufferable–filled to the brim with 12-year-olds that don’t know their ass from their elbow and assert with absolutisms without reading or understanding anything at all. It quite literally brings bile to the recesses of my mouth.
Every part of your comment is wrong or false. Air, O, Proton. There’s 3 that are “mainstream”.
There’s multitudes of smaller providers that allow it.
Mullvad removed it because of CP and extremist content being hosted behind mullvad. It had nothing to do with torrenting as they had no problem with it for the many years.
Many countries don’t even acknowledge DMCA. Some have their own that have higher criteria for enforcement like the NL, others just don’t care. Hosted many things out of Vietnam, Kosovo, Hungary, etc.
It’s evident to me that you’re either stupid, or lack the ability to read. You make up your mind on which is which.
It’s not possible for a company, no matter where they are in the world to permit users to do things which are illegal. Period. Proton cannot allow their users to use their VPN to use the torrent network to download IP. As with any company anywhere in the world. To live in some state of reality to be unable to acknowledge this is the most insane shit I’ve ever seen in my life. You literally are living outside of reality here… The sheer level of stupidity here is fucking insane to me, so I’ll try one last time to put it into perspective for you;
I’ve said “Murder is illegal, no matter where you are. You can’t just kill people” and you’ve said quite unironically “GLOCK allows their customers to kill people, they’ve made murder legal.”
Do you genuinely not see how fucking idiotic and stupid you sound?
This also has nothing to do with DMCA–which is a US law and cannot be enforced in other parts of the world. As I’ve said from the very beginning, theft of IP (torrent or otherwise) is individually illegal in all but less than 5 countries on this planet… It doesn’t matter how you do it, or where you do it. It’s always going to be illegal because all of the countries from which these VPN providers originate, it’s illegal in those countries.
I’ve done my very best to explain this very simple concept to you–that you can’t break the law just because you’re behind a VPN and they don’t actively pursue you for every little infraction–but if you still don’t understand it after all this, then do us both a favor and just take a vow of silence for the rest of your pitiable life.
I mean Jesus Christ.