Help with seeding

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1

I’m very new to torrents but I want to be able to seed

For context, I am using qbittorrent and cyberghost. I’ve downloaded two files so far which both went fine, but neither seem to be able to seed. I tried seeding ubuntu to see if maybe there weren’t enough leechers, but the most I’ve seen from it was 1-5B/s upload and the ratio still at 0.0. It says I’ve uploaded 1.1mb…

I’ve checked my ports with and without the vpn and its inaccessible, but netstat on my computer says that the port is listening… Do I have to manually open the port that qbittorrent is trying to use? Does port-fowarding lower my security/privacy?

From what I’ve researched Cyberghost doesn’t allow port-forwarding on its servers, should I use a different vpn like Mullvad? Would the dedicated ip from cyberghost work? Or should I maybe consider getting a seedbox?

Thanks for any help, love you all!

2

A lot to unpack there, I’ll give it a shot:

  • Cyberghost is a poor choice of VPN, not only because they lack port forwarding but also due to the acquisition by Kape. Check here for better VPNs.
  • You’re not seeding likely due to lack of port forwarding, yes.
  • It’s debatable whether port forwarding lowers privacy, but I personally find it’s an acceptable risk if you’re using a VPN provider with solid reputation and clean track record.
  • What is not acceptable is dedicated IP, I’d forget that idea, especially on Cyberghost.
  • Getting a seedbox could still be worth it though, I’d look into that.
  • Don’t forget to bind the network interface to client. Just this month I think I’ve seen at least 2 people with Cyberghost complaining about leaks.
3

torguard offer port forwarding

4

You won’t see much success seeding Linux distributions because there’re hundreds of seeders and servers in the swarm.

I think it’d do you well to skim this FAQ of mine

netstat is correct, but it only shows whats happening on your computer. It cannot tell if the VPN server is correctly forwarding connections to your PC (port-forwarding).

To enable it:

  1. Configure port-forwarding on the VPN provider’s website or app
  2. Set qBittorrent to only use that port, done. You should see an increased amount of incoming connections if it works.

Actually testing if it worked is not straight forward at all much less so troubleshooting issues.

5

Oh wow, I knew that PIA and Express were bought by Kape… guess I didn’t read far enough. Luckily I’m still able to get my money back, I’ll probably switch over to Mullvad. Thanks so much for the informative reply. It kinda amazes me how so many torrents stay alive when most vpns don’t really support seeding…

6

CyberGhost was actually the first VPN to sell out to Kape. It is the OG shady.