VPN mandatory?

[Puckje]

I'm a bit a poor person. Therefore, I was wondering: How many of you guys still torrent without a VPN?

Are there any good free VPNs out there?

It seems I can't even use 1337 anymore, I'm suspecting it detects that I'm not using a VPN and does not allow me to use it...

[RobertX]

No, VPNs are not mandatory; besides the free ProtonVPN plan, I've never used it.

I use the free version ProtonVPN to download episodes of Star Trek aftershow "The Ready Room" from Paramount Plus's Youtube channel because not all the episodes are on the Star Trek Facebook page.

I've been caught downloading off TPB by my ISP because I'm not protected by a VPN, but then, I don't usually torrent as much.

I am considering using one though, but to me, time is not of the essence. Like I said, I don't torrent, I go to the library for my movie/TV show fix; I just use direct download sites if the library does not have the DVD version of a movie. However, normally, I would just rip them from the library .

VPNs in general don't receive criticisms over price, so if you just look for a yearly plan, or a biyearly plan, which costs roughly about $50 USD annually. The thing about yearly plans is that you get the paying part over with for one year and then it's open season. You can try NordVPN, ExpressVPN, ProtonVPN, and the like.

But if your question is still "do I need it," the answer in a nutshell, is no. Just get a private tracker invite in General Discussions and you can get some stuff from, say, IPTorrents without VPNs. That's what I do too. Just don't gorge yourself with too much torrents in the beginning, because the beginner's trap to using private torrent sites is that you will be kicked out immediately. It's a ratio system, so you need to seed back to them. TPB encourages that practice, but it's not needed; private trackers do. I'll share my secret: always download and seed "free leech" torrents because you don't have to upload stuff back to a 1:1 ratio if you can't. However, you need to leave it on for a required amount of time before deleting it. Anyway, I digress.

My point is, if you're like me who hasn't been using torrents, The answer is "not necessary," but just so that if you want to start a torrent empire, you should. However, no one here is going to ban you it you don't use a VPN. VPNs are recommended for your benefit, but you can do it without fear, if you don't mind if your ISP giving you notices.

Hope this helps.

[CaptButler]

I'm a bit a poor person. Therefore, I was wondering: How many of you guys still torrent without a VPN?

Are there any good free VPNs out there?

It seems I can't even use 1337 anymore, I'm suspecting it detects that I'm not using a VPN and does not allow me to use it...

I am unsure what your problem with 1337x could be--I've downloaded from them for many years without difficulty and without a VPN.  Your AV program may have started blocking access--I've gotten rid of a number of AV programs over the years for this reason.  In 16 years of doing this, I've never used a VPN. 

Anything you may have read about sites like TPB or 1337x blocking people without VPNs is bullshit.  I doubt that it is even technically possible, and there is no advantage to torrents sites to do that.

[Puckje]

No, VPNs are not mandatory; besides the free ProtonVPN plan, I've never used it.

I use the free version ProtonVPN to download episodes of Star Trek aftershow "The Ready Room" from Paramount Plus's Youtube channel because not all the episodes are on the Star Trek Facebook page.

I've been caught downloading off TPB by my ISP because I'm not protected by a VPN, but then, I don't usually torrent as much.

I am considering using one though, but to me, time is not of the essence. Like I said, I don't torrent, I go to the library for my movie/TV show fix; I just use direct download sites if the library does not have the DVD version of a movie. However, normally, I would just rip them from the library .

VPNs in general don't receive criticisms over price, so if you just look for a yearly plan, or a biyearly plan, which costs roughly about $50 USD annually. The thing about yearly plans is that you get the paying part over with for one year and then it's open season. You can try NordVPN, ExpressVPN, ProtonVPN, and the like.

But if your question is still "do I need it," the answer in a nutshell, is no. Just get a private tracker invite in General Discussions and you can get some stuff from, say, IPTorrents without VPNs. That's what I do too. Just don't gorge yourself with too much torrents in the beginning, because the beginner's trap to using private torrent sites is that you will be kicked out immediately. It's a ratio system, so you need to seed back to them. TPB encourages that practice, but it's not needed; private trackers do. I'll share my secret: always download and seed "free leech" torrents because you don't have to upload stuff back to a 1:1 ratio if you can't. However, you need to leave it on for a required amount of time before deleting it. Anyway, I digress.

My point is, if you're like me who hasn't been using torrents, The answer is "not necessary," but just so that if you want to start a torrent empire, you should. However, no one here is going to ban you it you don't use a VPN. VPNs are recommended for your benefit, but you can do it without fear, if you don't mind if your ISP giving you notices.

Hope this helps.

Thanks a lot bro!

[Worldwideboss]

No, VPNs are not mandatory; besides the free ProtonVPN plan, I've never used it.

I use the free version ProtonVPN to download episodes of Star Trek aftershow "The Ready Room" from Paramount Plus's Youtube channel because not all the episodes are on the Star Trek Facebook page.

I've been caught downloading off TPB by my ISP because I'm not protected by a VPN, but then, I don't usually torrent as much.

I am considering using one though, but to me, time is not of the essence. Like I said, I don't torrent, I go to the library for my movie/TV show fix; I just use direct download sites if the library does not have the DVD version of a movie. However, normally, I would just rip them from the library .

VPNs in general don't receive criticisms over price, so if you just look for a yearly plan, or a biyearly plan, which costs roughly about $50 USD annually. The thing about yearly plans is that you get the paying part over with for one year and then it's open season. You can try NordVPN, ExpressVPN, ProtonVPN, and the like.

But if your question is still "do I need it," the answer in a nutshell, is no. Just get a private tracker invite in General Discussions and you can get some stuff from, say, IPTorrents without VPNs. That's what I do too. Just don't gorge yourself with too much torrents in the beginning, because the beginner's trap to using private torrent sites is that you will be kicked out immediately. It's a ratio system, so you need to seed back to them. TPB encourages that practice, but it's not needed; private trackers do. I'll share my secret: always download and seed "free leech" torrents because you don't have to upload stuff back to a 1:1 ratio if you can't. However, you need to leave it on for a required amount of time before deleting it. Anyway, I digress.

My point is, if you're like me who hasn't been using torrents, The answer is "not necessary," but just so that if you want to start a torrent empire, you should. However, no one here is going to ban you it you don't use a VPN. VPNs are recommended for your benefit, but you can do it without fear, if you don't mind if your ISP giving you notices.

Hope this helps.

There are other sites that you can use to download torrents that circumvent needing a VPN. Sites like Bitport can DL the file to their server, and from there you can download the file to your pc without worrying about your ISP flagging you about DCMA violations.

[RobertX]

But it's not free, so it defeats the purpose of not using a VPN.