Only a Handful of VPN Providers Offer Port Forwarding. Here's What It Is and When I Use It
Some VPN features offer broad appeal. Port forwarding doesn't. It’s a niche feature that some folks find handy, while the rest could use the same VPN for years without realizing it’s missing, and that’s not by accident.
I only turn on port forwarding when I have a specific reason to do so. Once I’m done, I turn it off. The feature is genuinely useful in some scenarios, like file sharing, but it also can create security headaches for users and operational headaches for even the best VPN providers. There’s a reason only a select number of providers still support it.
Essentially, port forwarding leaves an open connection to that device so that outsiders can find and access your machine. Here’s what port forwarding actually does, why so many VPN companies avoid it and the situations where I think it’s worth using.
How port forwarding works
By default, your router...
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