How to Bypass Torrent Blocking by your ISP.
Torrents are often associated with piracy, huge bandwidth, and lawsuits. This is why universities and offices often block torrents. Fair enough.
But what I don’t like is when ISPs prohibit torrenting for home users. This is a violation of net neutrality. The Internet must be open to everyone. As long as people don’t get confused, the ISP shouldn’t be deciding what to watch and what not. So, if your ISP is blocking torrenting, here are some ways to get around it.
So, if your ISP is blocking torrenting, here are some ways to get around it.
Bypass torrent blocking
1. Get the HTTP link
So torrents are blocked by closing p2p ports. But ISPs can never block HTTP (port 80) or FTP (port 21) ports as these ports are used for regular browsing. So, if we can somehow use this HTTP / FTP port to access torrents, we are fine.
And sites like zbigz help us with that. Simply put, it sits between you and the torrent server and helps you convert the torrent file into a direct download link.
Start by downloading the .torrent file to your computer. If torrent sites are blocked, you can use a VPN to unblock them. Upload the torrent file to zbigz. It will fetch the content and store it on its own server and finally provide you with a regular download link.
Related: 10 Best VPN Extensions for Google Chrome
Then upload the torrent file to zbigz. It will fetch the content and store it on its own server and finally provide you with a regular download link.
Overall, the service is free and reliable. I’ve seen this work for the last 6 years and have never had a problem. Although it can sometimes take a while to cache the content if the server is under heavy load. There is also a premium plan for those who use this service frequently, but if you’re willing to pay for this service, we suggest you check out our next option.
If for some reason you are unable to access zbigz, try Bitport, that’s pretty good too. However, the free version is limited to 1 GB and requires you to create an account with your email address.
# 2 Start somewhere else
Another creative way to bypass torrent blocking in offices and institutions is to start downloading from a different source and, after successfully connecting to the peers, switch to your regular office WiFi connection. The download will continue.
For example, start by temporarily connecting your computer to mobile data (or any internet) by creating an access point. Once the torrent connects to its peers and starts downloading, switch to your normal Internet connection. It should still work.
The logic behind this is simple: the firewall can only detect the first handshake, if you do this first handshake from other sources and go back to the old network, the download will continue.
3. VPN
VPN or virtual private server is the most popular method to bypass any kind of internet blocking. It encrypts any traffic, so your ISP doesn’t know what you are downloading or from where. Though they can see huge bandwidth consumption on the encrypted network, so if this is a concern, change your MAC address temporarily.
On the subject: What is a VPN and why should you use one?
Now comes the tricky part: There are many VPN providers on the market. Some are free and some are paid. But the most popular VPN like TunnelBear doesn’t support VPN. The only VPN that supports BitTorrent and can also be trusted is HideMe.
The free version of HideMe only offers 2GB. But that shouldn’t be a problem. Once your torrents start downloading, you can simply turn off the VPN and the download will continue. Used correctly, this can give you unlimited torrent downloads on a limited network. However, if you are a power user, we recommend you upgrade to the premium version.
4. Sedbox
Seedbox is commonly used to download torrents anonymously. In many countries, the ISP will send an email alert if it detects that you are torrenting. And services like seedbox overcome this problem.
Think of it like zbigz, i.e. he acts as an intermediary. To put it simply, a seedbox is a powerful computer specially designed to download torrents at blazing speed. So, first you download the torrent to your seed box and then transfer it to your computer. And since the connection is encrypted over FTP or HTTP, it looks like a normal file transfer to your ISP.
Overall, if you are a heavy torrent user and want to remain anonymous, the seed box offers a long-term solution. The only problem is that the service is mostly paid, from $ 2 to $ 20 per month. Here is a complete list of popular seed box sales services with price-performance comparisons.
So, these were several ways to download torrents blocked by your ISP. In most cases, temporarily using your mobile data to connect to peers and then switching back to your normal connection (method 2) should work. Although if you are a power user you can also use Seedbox, make sure you do your research before choosing the best one.
How to Bypass Torrent Blocking by your ISP