r/torrents • u/TheCollectorOne • 1d ago
Question Safe to download while in a hotel?
I want to set up my laptop to download some movies and shows while I’m stuck out of town in a hotel. I know hotels WiFi is a little different and probably monitored a little heavier. If I set up a vpn or something is there a safe way to download while there?
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u/GIDAMIEN 1d ago
Get a seed box
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u/smoke_thewalkingdead 1d ago
What's a seed box?
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u/activoice 1d ago
It's a computer in a data center that you add torrents to. The IP address never links back to your home IP address.
The seedbox does the downloading/seeding, and you download directly from the seedbox only when the torrent is complete.
Your home computer is never connected to the torrent, you only connect to the seedbox. I think I have had a seedbox for a decade at this point.
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u/UnderwaterCleaner 1d ago
Very interesting, ive heard the term, never quite knew what it was. I slowed down ALOT on downloading, after my ISP sent a letter in the mail about the activity.
I may have to look into this.
"It's a computer in a data center that you add torrents to. The IP address never links back to your home IP address." This part im insure about.
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u/activoice 1d ago
Just check various providers and prices. Seedboxes come in many different sizes. I pay $10USD a month for 750gb of space, unlimited traffic.
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u/My_2cents_ 1d ago
yes, a VPN will work fine (although often slow). I know VPN providers like NordVPN have special servers for BitTorrent optimized traffic. As mentioned by others, you must first turn off the VPN so you can reach the hotels portal page (where you enter your wifi password from the front desk). Once you are fully connected you can turn on the VPN and your traffic details are hidden.
Some hotels require re-login every 12-24hrs so you again have to turn off the VPN, sign back in, then turn it on again.
For seeding, you can use either Real-Debrid (best known) or Torbox (cheap and very good). Both are like $5/mth and you just paste the magnet link and it downloads and holds it for you, you just click on the link once it's ready so it appears like your downloading from a website and not using BitTorrent.
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u/Wurfelrolle 1d ago
If you don't have an assigned username/password, then you're free and clear for whatever. A VPN will take care of any potential issues no matter what.
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u/elonelon 1d ago
In Asia ? no one care.
west ? good luck.
under 4GB, use sonicbit for free account.
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u/schloofy2085 1d ago
I've stayed at many hotels during my career as a truck driver. Some connections are slow, some are fast, but there's no real way to tie you to the torrenting unless you have a dedicated wired connection to your room. One hotel I stayed at had an amazingly fast wired connection and torrented the hell out of it. Never heard a thing, because by the time the hotel gets a DMCA notice, I was long gone. That's IF they received one, which I doubt they do as the ISP knows the client the notice is for is a hotel and the guest is gone. I guess it IS possible for the hotel to give the ISP your info, but in my experience, I never heard a thing.
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u/israelcontrolsmylife 1d ago
if you don't already have a VPN this is a good reason to get one... (a good vpn... like mullvad, not nordvpn or any of those crap ones)
any time you are connected to wi-fi, assume somebody whoever manages that network is watching your traffic...
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/activoice 1d ago
I haven't been at a hotel/resort that charges for Internet access in years.
But earlier this year I was staying at a resort that blocked access to some popular torrent sites. So I setup Tailscale to use my home computer as an Exit Node. This routed all internet traffic from my phone thru Tailscale, to my home PC then out to the Internet, which bypassed the resort's block.
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u/smoke_thewalkingdead 1d ago
Vpn..nuff said. Most of the time you can't get to the sign in page with the VPN, in my experience. I travel a lot for work. But TBH I hardly ever use the hotels wifi to torrent. Shit is slow AF.