Torrenting is not allowed on Windscribe
Torrenting is not allowed on Windscribe
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.
Their own website says they allow p2p so I would see what your options are for getting a refund. If you purchased with a credit card, file a chargeback and include the documentation.
I'd recommend AirVPN. Here's why I'd recommend them, in their own words:
No traffic limit. No time limit.
No maximum speed limit, it depends only on the server load
Every protocol is welcome, including p2p. Forwarded ports and DDNS to optimize your software.
Wasn't sure if this was the right place, but I figured someone should know about this. For what it's worth, I would actually recommend windscribe if you don't plan on doing torrents all the time, or you have sub 1gbps internet. Just sucks that I hit their "unlimited" internet limits on my home connection.
They have a page on their site about chargebacks. They're confidant they'll win them, but they still ban because it costs them money. I've done one anyways; as far as my reading of their tos goes, I was in the right. Might as well make this experience cost both of us money, instead of just them.
Their guide for using torrents with their service; https://windscribe.com/knowledge-base/articles/using-windscribe-with-torrent-clients/
Their FAQ on bandwidth and chargebacks: https://windscribe.com/knowledge-base/articles/why-did-my-account-get-disabled/
Seems like something that could fit here
I use airvpn with an always on server setup, port forwarding, and constant seeding. If you're okay with manually using a wireguard or openvpn client instead of an airvpn specific client it works great.
Edit Plus, they have a progressive pricing thing that lets you buy a few days for like 2€ just to test stuff.
It's definitely a bandwidth usage thing, given their reputation for being informal in communications they could have been a lot nicer about that.
It's really disappointing to see this from them, they were one the best priced VPNs out there claiming to respect privacy. Their support was also super helpful with my questions about their datacenter static IPs.
I think you should give surfshark a go I've been using it for over a year every day all day and it's flawless.
Thanks for the warning!
I’m not trying to convince you either way, but can you point to the ‘political BS’ Proton guy said that made you flip? I use Proton and also veer hard left wherever politics are concerned, and I personally think the whole thing is way overblown. I may have missed something though, happy to hear otherwise, because in my understanding all he did was soft-endorse someone who identifies as republican at the moment
A search of the comments didn't turn up any mention of seedboxes. So I'll throw that hat in the ring as an option.
Them calling it "unlimited" when there's a limit is wrong, but so is using all of the available upload bandwidth 100% of the time on a cheap home VPN service when you consider the current market prices for data transfer. Mine's limited to 2Mbps. Seems fair for $7/month or whatever it is.
Edit: Oh right it was 2Mbps. I spent 20 minutes surveying datacentre prices around the world to come up with that number, but bandwidth prices vary widely and might've changed by now.
Look in to I2P
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.
Thanks for the note OP. Which VPN providers are you looking at for public torrents?