Private IP WAN address and port opening for torrent

[epistularum]

I have been trying to open my ports for efficient torrent download/upload but on my ISP's forum it stated that I have to have a public IP WAN address in order to do that, which I don't have.

In order to have a public IP WAN address I have to contact my ISP but I'm unable to do that since it's my landlord's router.

 

If I were to use a VPN that supports torrenting, would I be able to properly forward my ports for torrenting ? Or is there another way ?

[homeap5]

Just download qBittorrent and don't worry about all that port settings stuff. It should be fast enough.

[epistularum]

Just now, homeap5 said:

Just download qBittorrent and don't worry about all that port settings stuff. It should be fast enough. 

I'm a member of several private trackers.

I know opening ports doesn't make a big difference on popular torrents but I'm told by other users that opening my ports is a must for rare torrents which are not well seeded.

[NelizMastr]

1 minute ago, epistularum said:

I'm a member of several private trackers.

I know opening ports doesn't make a big difference on popular torrents but I'm told by other users that opening my ports is a must for rare torrents which are not well seeded.

For shits and giggles, try the default username and password for the router  

 

You can find your WAN IP by the way by going to whatsmyip.org. 

[homeap5]

@NelizMastr: Not every IP is external. And changing someone elses router settings is not a good idea.

[epistularum]

1 minute ago, NelizMastr said:

For shits and giggles, try the default username and password for the router  

 

You can find your WAN IP by the way by going to whatsmyip.org. 

I am able to enter my router's web interface.

It's just that I'm told by my ISP that I have to have a public WAN IP and in order to do that I have to call them which I can't because it's not my property.

Is there a way to open ports on a private WAN IP (CGN) ?

[epistularum]

When I enter a NAT rule to open my ports they still show up as closed and don't show in the "redirection list" under UPnP

[Master Disaster]

1 hour ago, homeap5 said:

@NelizMastr: Not every IP is external. And changing someone elses router settings is not a good idea.

Err what? Do you understand what a WAN IP is?

[Master Disaster]

1 hour ago, epistularum said:

I am able to enter my router's web interface.

It's just that I'm told by my ISP that I have to have a public WAN IP and in order to do that I have to call them which I can't because it's not my property.

Is there a way to open ports on a private WAN IP (CGN) ?

What you're saying makes no sense at all. If you're online and browsing websites then you have a public WAN IP address.

 

Besides which port forwarding doesn't affect your WAN IP anyway, it's simply a way for your router to direct traffic across your internal network. You need your internal IP address to forward ports.

[homeap5]

1 minute ago, Master Disaster said:

Err what? Do you understand what a WAN IP is?

Do you understand what external IP is?

Your ISP can give you only internal IP sometimes, so you cannot forward ports, because they will be forwarded to ISP subnet only, not visible from outside. You can check your IP by any website, sure, but in some cases that will be ISP IP, not IP that you get to your router. That's "err what".

[Lurick]

3 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

What you're saying makes no sense at all. If you're online and browsing websites then you have a public WAN IP address.

 

Besides which port forwarding doesn't affect your WAN IP anyway, it's simply a way for your router to direct traffic across your internal network. You need your internal IP address to forward ports.

He's behind Carrier Grade NAT (CGN) and in that case there is no way to forward ports to his IP without paying for a true public IP address or asking the ISP to forward the port for him, which they will just deny.

[Master Disaster]

1 minute ago, homeap5 said:

Do you understand what external IP is?

Your ISP can give you only internal IP sometimes, so you cannot forward ports, because they will be forwarded to ISP subnet only, not visible from outside. You can check your IP by any website, sure, but in some cases that will be ISP IP, not IP that you get to your router. That's "err what".

That's not a thing I've ever heard of and I've worked in computing my entire life...

 

So you're saying that if he was to go to whatsmyip it would give him a private IP address?

 

What countries does this happen in?

[Lurick]

Just now, Master Disaster said:

That's not a thing I've ever heard of and I've worked in computing my entire life...

 

So you're saying that if he was to go to whatsmyip it would give him a private IP address?

 

What countries does this happen in?

In a lot of Asian and European markets they use CGN to NAT a bunch of residents to a single IP address. It's double NAT on a very large scale.

If he went to whatsmyip it would show the same public IP that others have as well.

[epistularum]

2 minutes ago, Lurick said:

He's behind Carrier Grade NAT (CGN) and in that case there is no way to forward ports to his IP without paying for a true public IP address or asking the ISP to forward the port for him, which they will just deny.

Thanks for the confirmation.

I am able to open my ports but I have to call them and ask them directly with my client number, which I can't do since I'm not the owner of the router.

 

If I were to use a VPN supporting torrents would that open up my ports ?

[homeap5]

18 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

That's not a thing I've ever heard of and I've worked in computing my entire life...

 

So you're saying that if he was to go to whatsmyip it would give him a private IP address?

 

What countries does this happen in?

Do you really believe that every person in the world has his own private external IPv4?

 

It's normal that some small internet providers gives you IP from their "router". They create subnets and you creates subnet as well in your home using your router. You still can browse internet and most of people don't even notice any difference, but you cannot access your computer directly by IP from outside (unless your ISP forward selected ports for you). When number of IPv4 is not sufficient in your ISP, they can even give you IPv6 only because numer of IPv4 addresses are limited.

 

So, as you see, entire life etc... Nobody knows everything, but this is basic network knowledge imo.

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

In answer to the original question, YES, a VPN that supports port forwarding and torrents WILL work.  They give out a private IP address but will either automatically or manually assign you some forwarded ports from their public IP address for this use.  I currently use AirVPN and it works great.

[epistularum]

4 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

In answer to the original question, YES, a VPN that supports port forwarding and torrents WILL work.  They give out a private IP address but will either automatically or manually assign you some forwarded ports from their public IP address for this use.  I currently use AirVPN and it works great.

Thank you very much Alex.

[Alex Atkin UK]

2 minutes ago, epistularum said:

Thank you very much Alex.

The only catch is I'm not sure how private torrents handle your IP address changing, as is inevitable on a VPN.  I've only used public torrents.

[Mikensan]

@Master Disaster - Carriers in the US do this... if you're on T-Mobile you're sharing an IP address. CGN isn't anything new, solution to the limited IPv4 space and why we've been able to avoid going full force to IPv6.

[Mikensan]

On 12/11/2018 at 11:24 AM, Alex Atkin UK said:

The only catch is I'm not sure how private torrents handle your IP address changing, as is inevitable on a VPN.  I've only used public torrents.

I think this is updated from the tracker, as even a normal address can change. Not sure if the .torrent you download is unique to your account or if there's a UID from your torrent client it uses - either way my private trackers keep up with me.

[Alex Atkin UK]

I know I used private trackers many many years ago that just tracked your IP, which is obviously problematic for a VPN as every user sharing that single WAN address would be counted as one.  I would certainly hope things are different now, VPNs didn't really exist back then and we had no IPv4 shortage causing ISPs to use CG-NAT.

[Mikensan]

14 hours ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

I know I used private trackers many many years ago that just tracked your IP, which is obviously problematic for a VPN as every user sharing that single WAN address would be counted as one.  I would certainly hope things are different now, VPNs didn't really exist back then and we had no IPv4 shortage causing ISPs to use CG-NAT.

To be honest I've always had a dynamic IP, dialup and DSL being the most volatile while cable would last for weeks or months depending on the ISP. I think the first tracker I ever used was demonoid back in.... 2004? I'm not really sure how they fingerprinted their users but always managed to keep up with me. Trying to remember if maybe when you logged into the site - if it recorded your IP? That feels like the right answer, but it's been what... 15 years lol? Where'd I put my cane?

 

Though definitely hit a brick wall with CGNAT in 2008 for the very first time. Company I worked for had T1 lines with failover to a T-mobile modem. Quickly learned what was going on when I saw the modem had a private IP address. Called T-Mobile and they more or less said "be happy you have internet, good luck". So for a few days nobody had email, website was down, etc etc - was rough.