Port Forwarding
What is port forwarding?
In a nutshell, port forwarding is opening a port or range of ports on a firewall to allow unsolicited external connections.
In almost all cases standard consumer routers and modems (the equipment you connect to for internet access) ship with a firewall. This firewall is generally configured to allow all outgoing connections (you requesting a web page, for example) but to drop all unsolicited incoming connections, think any computer trying to connect to you without you asking first.
This behaviour is good. It prevents people being able to attack your computer and is a nice solution to the problem of internet background noise
Why should I forward a port?
Unfortunately, when it comes to the bittorrent protocol, this behaviour does not help in sharing files very well.
When you add a torrent file to your client it connects to TehConnection and retrieves a list of IP addresses which currently have the file you are after. Your PC then connects to as many of those IP addresses as it can to download the file.
If one of those addresses does not have an open port then when you try to connect the firewall will most likely drop the connection and you will not be able to download from that IP address.
Possibly worse than not being able to download from others is the frustration of not being able to seed. You may find that without an open port you may have many torrents seeding in your client but not seeding anything. This is because when others try to connect to your IP address they are rejected.
How do I forward a port?
Luckily many people have asked that question before. So many, in fact, that there is a website dedicated specifically to guides on how to forward ports on almost all consumer routers. The fastest way to learn how to forward a port is to go to this website and search for your model of modem or router.
What if I still have issues?
The best way to get assistance is to ask your fellow TehConnection members. We all have an interest in you being able to download and upload.
First, search the forums for port forward questions, if there is nothing helpful already asked then start a new topic in the Help forum. Remember to include relevant details including the make and model of your router or modem and specifically what seems not to work.
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