Originally Posted by Dragonbouche

I have a question about port forwarding over vpn, please.

A tracker I use monitors connectability and because I use a firewall vpn that does not support port forwarding I am listed as 'unconnectable'. Despite this, qBittorrent WEBUI regularly shows uploads and when I check, the tracker is registering those uploads. However, they are telling me that I should be 'connectable' to get more uploads. My reasons for using a VPN are my own and I will not change my configuration for them so long as I am able to maintain acceptable ratios.

I have contacted my vpn provider and they tell me that they offer port forwarding over vpn only with their desktop client. However, I cannot do that because I have the vpn configured on my firewall. So, because i am unable to use port forwarding over vpn I am listed as 'unconnectable'. I assume this is the case with other trackers but they don't seem to care.

So technically speaking, why are uploads 'reduced' because port forwarding is not available (in this case because vpn does not support it)? I mean, I'm still seeing SOME connections and reasonable uploads. Why are some clients able to connect and others not?

Thanks in advance!

It's all depends on the your setup.
I have Airvpn with port forwarding, and for me it shows connectable in all trackers. I set up same ports in rtorrent and opened the port in airvpn website.

Port open / forwarding can make big difference only when there are low seeders. Or if you are only seeder, but your ports are closed, then leechers will not reach you.

Otherwise, in hot new torrents like major box office releases, open or closed ports will not make much difference.