I'm using the "FullyRouted-Canada.ovpn" config file. This is used in conjuction with a shell script wrapper that sets up an iptables firewall to prevent internet traffic if the VPN goes down, same as I was using previously. To make sure that the firewall wasn't somehow responsible I also tested without any iptables rules (everything running open) and there was no change, so I put the iptables rules back in place.
Hmmm - what I am observing now though is a very slow upload taking place on a single months-old downloaded torrent that is still in Transmission. I'm getting a sporadic 2K to 10K upload on that one that comes and goes. There are about a dozen other, recent, downloaded torrents listed, they are just sitting there idle "Seeding to 0 of 0 connected peers," including the Debian CD just downloaded.
I've let transmission run for about 15 minutes now, observing its behavior after the latest download. Everything sat for several minutes idle. Then I started seeing a burst of upload activity (50K to 100K upload), but only on that one old torrent. Everything else is sitting idle, including my latest downloads. Maybe there just happens to be no demand for any of this stuff at the moment? (The switch to Bolehvpn may just be coincidental.) I have to assume that if one of the torrents is able to upload any of them would be able to, I've just not seen this pattern of inactivity before in my admittedly limited experience with torrents.
All back to zero uploads now, Transmission is just sitting idle. I'll leave it running for a while and see what happens.