How does port forwarding help with videogames?
Comment on Mullvad VPN: Introducing Defense against AI-guided Traffic Analysis (DAITA)
nivenkos@lemmy.world 1 month ago
No port forwarding really kills the utility though - I mainly use the VPN to do port forwarding (e.g. for video games, Plex, etc.) as my ISP is shit.
Like I’m not worried about state-level de-anonymisation, I just want to be able to share services remotely and have a minimum level of anonymity.
MrPoopbutt@lemmy.world 1 month ago
gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago
Opens up your NAT for matchmaking
nivenkos@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I host a server, I forward the port, my friends can connect to the open port on the VPN side.
My ISP does not offer port forwarding.
qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 1 month ago
Someone else pointed out Tailscale; I’ve had luck with free tier VPS+WireGuard.
I have an Oracle one which has worked well. Downside is I did link my CC, because my account was getting deactivated due to inactivity (even using it as a VPN and nginx proxy for my self hosting wasn’t enough to keep it “active”). But I stay below the free allowance, so it doesn’t cost.
That said: as far as anonymity goes, it’s not the right tool. And I fully appreciate the irony of trying to self-host to get away from large corporations owning my data…and relying on Oracle to do so. But you can get a static IP and VPS for free, so that’s something.
MashedTech@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Zerotier could also work for you
starman@programming.dev 1 month ago
You can use Tailscale for this
far_university1990@feddit.de 1 month ago
Alternative maybe i2p or tor network. Or make vpn to anon vps and host from there.
far_university1990@feddit.de 1 month ago
Port forwarding removed because hosting threatened to kick mullvad out. Lot of shit hosted through that. No hosting, no vpn, so needed to remove to continue operate.
ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Port forwarding means torrents. People using a VPN to torrent likely have much more traffic, especially those that seed (which is why they want port forwarding). Not enabling port forwarding means mullvlad can operate at a higher profit to cost ratio, and less risk.
far_university1990@feddit.de 1 month ago
No. mullvad.net/…/removing-the-support-for-forwarded-…
ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world 1 month ago
That’s what mullvlad say. It’s not necessarily the reason why they don’t offer port forwarding.
It was always possible for them to continue allowing port forwarding. They could use separate servers for those that want port forwarding, stopping any impact port forwarding had on those customers.
Aceticon@lemmy.world 1 month ago
That sounds strange given that Mullvad works fine for torrenting in my experience.
Also modern NAT will do deep packet inspection on common well known protocols to automatically adjust the port of your machine listed on any “here I am” messages being sent out to be an actual port on the VPN Router and to have an internal association of that port in the Router with the actual port in your machine so that connections of that port can be sent to your own machine and the actual port in it that are used.
It’s only the pure listenner services (such as webservers and e-mail servers) were the port is pre-defined by convention and never sent out on any “here I am message” that require explicitly configured port-forwarding on the VPN Router side.
ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world 1 month ago
You need port forwarding to connect on torrents. Your able to torrent because everyone you torrent from has port forwarding enabled. If you want to access more seeders, and more commonly leechers you need port forwarding. This is useful for people using private trackers that want to maintain a ratio.
nivenkos@lemmy.world 1 month ago
ProtonVPN has it though, which is what I’m using now.