Port forwarding with UPnP

[ghost]

I'm currently testing a new VPN service, which offers UPnP Port Forwarding.

It works with eMule and I get a high ID, when I enable UPnP in the connection settings of eMule.

I can't enter my TCP and UDP ports from eMule in their app or in the web interface, I only have to enable port forwarding.

I'm happy, because I have a high ID again, but I have a technical question: Can someone tell me, how this works? Just curious...

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[mimzy]

Can someone tell me, how this works? Just curious...

UPnP is simply a protocol (or a set of protocols) that can be used to open ports among other things. It is supported by routers also, but often disabled, because it can be misused my malware. Personally I prefer to open ports manually.

How it works: eMule sends a request (multicast message) to open certain ports and the VPN software receives the message and acts accordingly. You can read more about UPnP in Wikipedia.

[Night457]

I have a NON technical question: What is the NAME of this VPN service? Once you have used it for a short while, I will be interested in your impressions on how it compares to AirVPN.

[ghost]

Thanks mimzy.

Personally I prefer to open ports manually.

Me too, but that isn't possible with this VPN. At least eMule is working with it.

What is the NAME of this VPN service?

It's hide.me

Is has a lot more countries and incredible fast speed (it uses the WireGuard protocol instead of OpenVPN). With most countries I get the same speed as without VPN.

[Night457]

Thank you ghost! I quickly looked at it and saw it is only a little more expensive than AirVPN, and that the shortest paid time period is a month so I can try it with little investment. There is also a free version but I did not look into what that version does NOT have, but it is probably worth my trying it. I don't have the time to look into it fully yet. AirVPN uses OpenVPN AND WireGuard rather than hide.me's WireGuard INSTEAD of OpenVPN. But that is all blah blah blah to me anyway. I have not read enough to find out if I CAN pay for hide.me with BitCoin, but I would not actually do that. Do you care to reveal what disenchanted you with AirVPN, or were you just interested in alternatives and found this one intriguing? Is it mainly the expanded number of countries available?

[pillowbaker]

I am very curious to see where this conversation and research go. I have been considering a VPN for a while now. I used to use one, but it nod no port forwarding and was not very good with p2p software.

[ghost]

There is also a free version but I did not look into what that version does NOT have

No, you get one month full premium trial membership without limitations.

Do you care to reveal what disenchanted you with AirVPN, or were you just interested in alternatives and found this one intriguing? Is it mainly the expanded number of countries available?

The reason was that AirVPN doesn't have countries like Finland or Turkey and that the speed of many of their servers is pretty slow (compared to my normal speed). I always have to try several servers until I find a fast one. That's all. I stumbled across Hide.me and was positively surprised. Also their privacy policy seems good.

[Night457]

I know that you have HighID right now and I think I remember that you got it without doing anything special with the router or setting up port forwarding. I remember being jealous of this, and I am pretty sure it was you. This is then the real question: does using a VPN without port forwarding destroy any HighID that someone might already have? I don't know enough about what allows HighID in the first place to be confident of a guess. But if your HighID remains intact using a VPN or not, then the advantage of a VPN for you would REALLY be for what is what intended in the first place: PRIVACY. Naturally you really would not want it to slow down or even fail when p2ping. Ghost's discovery seems to be good for that, although I suspect he has not experimented with torrenting on it.

[Night457]

No, you get one month full premium trial membership without limitations.

That seems quite a generous option and I can't argue with it. But I wonder... if I use a different free VPN with a different free server every time I connect to the free hide.me, will that free one month essentially remain in effect forever, because hide.me will not realize I am the same person? Or does it do something sneaky to my computer like the free trial of Internet Download Manager so that it knows it is still me regardless of my own sneaky tricks trying to wipe out evidence of having already used it?

Anyway, this is what I saw that made me unsure:

Screenshot 2024-07-27 043319.jpg

If it is "always free, with no trials" then what does a PAYING member get that a free member does not? I don't expect you to research the answer FOR me, I was just saying that I had not figured it out yet because I had not explored the whole site. In my understanding "always" means as long as hide.me exists, not just one month. Maybe the word "always" is a poor machine translation from another language? Or it is something like the George Orwell Animal Farm's "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"?

The reason was that AirVPN doesn't have countries like Finland or Turkey...

I myself have been exasperated with having to try various other services like (free) proxies to try to access region-retricted content in the missing countries! Sometimes it worked for me.

the speed of many of their servers is pretty slow (compared to my normal speed)

I am glad that it was not just ME who had that problem! When I am only torrenting or only emule-connected to HighID members, I can shut off the VPN because I have not yet had a bad experience that would make me concerned about Privacy and even MY paranoia has limits. (When I DO have that bad experience, I don't think they will allow me to eMule from jail, so it won't matter anyway. )

I always have to try several servers until I find a fast one.

I guess you are either more patient or more persistent than I am. Even balancing the "Latency" and the "Load" on the various VPN Servers wears me down, and sooner or later that information changes. It will also sometimes disconnect from one Server for whatever reason and then reconnect to another.

I am paid up for several more months on AirVPN, so I will definitely try the FREE hide.me before I have to make any more payments. Thank you again for sharing the news about this VPN!

[ghost]

Sorry, I did NOT the research.

I just installed the app (without creating an account on thier website) and I got 1 month free premium membership. I guess, if I don't pay after the trial period, I will fall back to the free verison or it won't work anymore. I have no idea.