Forgot one point
- got in trouble for not offering port forwarding anymore
this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
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Privacy Guides
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Yeah I had to move to another provider over this. It's sad, I like their policies and services, but it's a deal breaker.
why do you need to port forward over vpn?
You can reach more leechers when sending a torrent if you port forward your torrent client. It was awesome.
I've used it to open a local port on my laptop publicly without needing to make any changes to the local network I was on. It can be useful for opening your laptop's ssh port or to host an http server to send someone a big file you don't want to pay to upload somewhere.
One other common use is 🏴☠️ which I suspect is why they disabled the service :/
Getting in trouble? It's more like:
- Server providers threatening to terminate business with Mullvad because some of its users used port forwarding to host contents that meant legal trouble.
- Mullvad chose to terminate support for port forwarding in a transparent way and gave clear dates to prepare. This was done instead of selling off their users or collaborating with whatever legal threats they were facing.
I don't like it, but at least I understand their business decision. Even if I took my business elsewhere, they have a solid point on transparency.
Agreed, but getting in trouble sounds funnier
Mullvad is a great vpn, one of the best for sure. Unfortunately because they don't support portforwarding the product is not a option for me anymore. I switched to airvpn and am satisfied with it.
I never really used a VPN, what is your usual use case and what exactly would I need port forwarding for?
I use it for downloading torrents without leaking my IP. If you can't portforward you are limited to downloading torrents. You won't be able to upload, or at the very least your upload speeds will be very slow. If your primary use case is torrents portforwarding is important. It allows you to open a port and be able to upload.
Usual use case is just privacy or sometimes getting around region-locked content. I personally have very sadly switched away from Mullvad as well due to the lack of port-forwarding. My ISP does not allow it and I use it to play certain games with friends (I do not want to pay to host a server to do something once a week).
Same, I really liked Mullvad and wasn't even with them long. But it is what it is.
Good VPN.
Happy customer for years.
It's a shame port forwarding is not supported anymore, but I'm thinking of other ways to supply the deficiency instead of switching providers.
What other ways are you referring to, if I may ask?
Having a VPS and routing all traffic between VPS and homeserver using wireguard. It's often discussed in selfhosting communities where the admin is behind restrictive firewalls and policies (which means no port forwarding) or cannot afford to reveal their home ``IPs
Cool to see. Does anyone have more context on these types of tests and how mullvad did?
If you read the report there's both context there and also on their site mullvad have commented on the found issues stating either reasons or what they are doing to fix it.
Keep it up, guys. Mullvad is since years my go to VPN.