I heard about this VPN in one of my recent threads here, and I believe Lemmy is cleaner than Reddit, so here I am, ready to read what you think about the service.

Would you use it to torrent? I said I only needed to watch movies, but eventually the stuff I watch is in a "niche" language, and the sites are overcrowded, so downloading from torrent is probably the best way (at the moment I'm downloading from the streaming sites through an app and Proton, but it's getting a bit slow).

^ It's not even Proton that's the problem; it's the sites that are slow as heck, and downloading an episode each evening sometimes is too much of a PITA. (while watching it like a normal user, well after dinner is basically a 1-minute wait every 10-15 seconds or something like that)

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[–] Buffy@libretechni.ca 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It lacks port forwarding so it's not the fastest when it comes to torrenting. You'll want one hosted outside of the 14 eyes, with port forwarding, hosted in a country that is not compliant with DMCA, and a strict no-log policy.

ExpressVPN or ProtonVPN paid plans will likely be best for you. But this is from memory so do your research on each to make sure the criteria hold true.

[–] gemew26@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

is port forwarding only for speed? I think I've got some confusion, can I torrent with proton free for casual usage?

Edit: I read on reddit they block torreting so okay, my question is still valid though. I've got a vpn bundled with an antimalware I can probably use but it's the same story, (I doubt over here they'll catch me torrenting) but does the vpn need to be specifically designed for torreting?

[–] Buffy@libretechni.ca 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yeah in this context the port forwarding allows you to discover more clients in the P2P network. It's by no means a requirement. Personally, I use MullvadVPN which does not support port forwarding, but I watch a lot of niche content that will have maybe one seeder at a time. I often wonder if there are peers I'm missing without port forwarding.

Also AFAIK Proton only blocks torrenting on their free plan servers, so the paid option may still be a good avenue. I think blocking torrenting on free servers is an industry standard for VPN. Is your priority affordability? It took me a long time to come around to paying for a VPN, as I hate subscription based models, but it has been well worth it.

Have you heard of or considered seedboxes? If your only use of the VPN would be for torrenting, these might be a better choice for you.

[–] gemew26@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 4 days ago

it's actually mostly for tv shows, and maybe in the FUTURE games. The site I use for streaming is slow when I watch them in my native language, that's why torrent. I'm on a budget tho, I think it'll either be surfshark or fastestvpn. I realise now fastestvpn kinda sucks, but I think if I don't care about the speed it's really affordable (or f-secure if it's bundled with m365 again and if I still will need onedrive storage, maybe not).

I appreciate you explained how port forwarding works (really ^^), like you I can also deal with not having it especially because for a bit my wallet is tight.