AirVPN vs Proton vs Mullvad

Yes of course. Tried all different varation on different servers. Even downloaded their newest expirimental client that lets you set MTU. I use a 2gb, 6gb, or 20gb server close to me, far away that is mostly empty. Doesn’t matter, I saw 400s ONCE. 500/500 is fine, because if you can get 400 on a 500 connection, then you’re golden. I am trying to get 1gb, otherwise I feel cheated. I could be being unreasonable sure. But Mullvad gave me ~800mb/s. So I felt I should get the same somewhere else.

Basically, the VPN is to protect you from your ISP shutting down your service after DMCA notices, and port forwarding is important if you need to maintain a good ratio on any private trackers. I know you don’t really need a VPN for a private tracker, but it’s still nice to have the peace of mind, plus I like downloading a public torrent from time to time.

You can’t seed. Downloads work though

Slightly worse seeding connectivity, not worth it if u don’t take it super seriously.

I’m wondering the same thing. I use Mulvad and it seems to work fine for me.

Do you know of any that will update the port for Plex?

I now use the fork one. Found that shortly after I posted this. Thanks for that, it is useful.

I leave my PC on all the time, so Proton’s dynamic IP for port forwarding is never an issue for me since I just stay connected to the same server. If I was going to turn off my computer each night, I don’t think it would be that big of a deal to manually change it each time I get back on though. And Proton speeds are almost as good as I get without the VPN. Just had to find the right server.

Same. I have a server I run all of this off of. It is up 24/7. I worry more about random disconnects and me not knowing about it for days/weeks/months.

For me AirVPN was just way too complicated when it came to split tunneling. All the guides were half a decade old or more and not user friendly at all. I also wasn’t impressed with torrent speeds either. Between the two it feels like an easy choice to me

Air’s advantage is really price. I feel the lack of the “dynamic” port is better, but the split tun is worse. So if you don’t need ST at all. Then you might lean towards Air.

If you have a 500 or less download speed and don’t need ST. AirVPN is your choice imho.

Dynamic as in, when you select pf it dynamically assigned you a port.

I am now realizing that Proton does the same thing…every single single you connect to a server. Even if it’s reconnecting to the same server.

Seems there is no perfect VPN.

(i fixed the wording so it is more clear)

Do you know the reason why OVPN isn’t recommended?

https://www.reddit.com/r/VPNTorrents/comments/rikthc/list_of_recommended_vpns_2022/

Also, does it support Split Tunneling. That is a must for my setup.

Unfortunately yes. I would need to reconfigure everything. But plex sits on the same server as qbit, so that server is just on VPN 100% of the time and stays online. I have to split Plex, or it won’t work.

In order to download or upload ONE of you need ports forwarded. If neither have it, then you cannot download or upload.

If you download mostly popular torrents from public sites, then you don’t really need it.

If you have private trackers then you need it to keep a better ratio.

If you download obscure things with low seeders, you probably also need it as there’s a higher chance those couple seeders don’t have ports forwarded either. So it won’t connect.

Been using Proton, pretty happy so far. I still think Mulvad was the best, but if you are on private torrents, you need good seeding, so no port forwarding is a deal breaker.

I am not evaluating all pros and cons of these 3. I am giving the things that were important to me, and what my results were.

How was mullvad disappointing? No account, 5$, monero support and I was always able to max out my 800mb down.

But yea, if you need split tunneling, do NOT get air lol, but their forwarding is fine.

Port forwarding allows you to connect to people. Both for downloading and uploading. ONE person needs to have it. If neither do, then you cannot download or upload to that person. It severely limits your download and upload potential if you don’t port forward.

If you don’t use private trackers and you mainly torrent popular media. You don’t really need it. But if you use private OR you like to get things that might only have a few seeders, you need PF.

It has wireguard. Just a setting you have to change to force it.

PIA kinda sucks in the US since port forwarding is only on non-US servers. Only see about 100-300 mbps no matter what server I choose. It is dirt cheap though and split tunneling works well.

Downloads work if torrent is popular. Then there’s the principle - if we all lacked port-forwarding then bittorrent dies.

You can seed tho, it’s just marginally worse. If you’re not interested in hardcore grinding real ratio or you’re not using a seedbox it’s hardly worth caring about.