The IP address that you use when you are downloading torrents is a critical piece of information.
Many service providers are very suspicious when they see that users are using P2P methods to download files. Some networks even bar this type of download because they are often used to download pirated content. But the honest truth is that P2P technologies are also used to download content legally. Therefore, it’s not fair to say that any user engaging in a P2P download must be downloading illegal content.
VPNs have frequently been used to hide downloads and keep ISPs and other organizations from seeing your data while it is in transit to your device. As such, VPNs have become increasingly popular over the last decade. There are so many threats to your data these days such as hackers, internet hucksters, and governments that are all looking for ways to monitor your data and steal your sensitive information.
Don’t worry though, there are many ways to protect your online information, and more tips can be found on our in-depth and detailed online privacy tutorial guide. Everyone needs a way to download their data freely without interference from third parties. That’s what we’re here for.
But as far as torrent downloaders are concerned, the best reason to use a VPN tunnel is browse the web and download content completely anonymously. Due to the fact that P2P data transfers puts your IP address out there, many users utilize VPNs to hide their true IP address. This strengthens their Internet security and prevents other others from seeing their true IP address.
What’s even worse is that organizations similar to the RIAA are always looking for ways to track user activities via their IP address. No matter what type of content you’re downloading, it is an advisable and recommended practice to hide your IP address when you are engaging in P2P torrent downloads.
But this introduces a problem. Sometimes your VPN tunnel may disconnect in the middle of a download. Without a VPN kill-switch that will halt your downloads in the event of a disconnect, your true IP address will be unmasked. Fortunately there are several techniques you can use to check the actual IP address that is seen by P2P networks when you are downloading content.
How to Test Your Torrent IP
AirVPN’s IPLeak.net
AirVPN provides more services to their users than simply a VPN . They also provide a handy utility that will display the IP address you are using when you go to their website: ipleak.net. Once you pull up the web page, look for the section in the bottom left corner of the screen that is labeled “Torrent Address Detection.” You will be able to see a whole range of information regarding your connection after you select the “Activate” button.
This is probably one of the easiest ways to view the IP address you are using to download torrents. You will want to make sure that it always matches the IP address that you are using through your VPN service.
CBDCDN’s IP Magnet
With this tool, you are essentially downloading a link that acts like a torrent with your torrent client. The idea is to keep it continually displaying within your torrent client so you always have a real-time indicator of the IP address you are using. But it has a couple of other handy features, too.
For example, it will show you the history of IP addresses you have used to download torrents. By looking at your history, you can see VPN disconnects when your IP address changes between that of your ISP and that of your VPN service provider. If you notice that your IP address keeps flipping between two different addresses, you have disconnect problems that can be remedied with a kill-switch.
TorGuard’s Check My Torrent IP Address
This handy tool works in much the same way that the IP Magnet feature operates, but it won’t allow you to see a history of the IP addresses you have used during downloads. It isn’t our favorite tool, but it certainly gets the job done. By downloading the torrent from TorGuard, you will be presented with the active IP address used for downloading torrents from your favorite torrent client.
Just make sure that the download is constantly active. Though it isn’t the best way to track your active IP address, it is an easy and free way to check your IP address.