VPN vs Seedboxes (uTorrent WebUI, Torrentflux, ruTorrent, wTorrent)

[Reuben]

Before I begin let me clear up a big confusion of people wanting to use a Seedbox (SB) service

DOWNLOADING THE FILE AT 4 Megabytes/sec to THE SEEDBOX SERVER MEANS NUTS IF YOU HAVE TO DOWNLOAD IT AGAIN FROM THE SEEDBOX SERVER AT YOUR ISP SPEED

I find a lot of people are wowed by the large download speed numbers that Seedbox services post when they are misleading. Large numbers that have little effect to you. Why? Cause when you download it to your PC, once again you're limited by your ISP. Also note that these large numbers are only achievable on well seeded torrents. It is almost like having a Formula 1 car in a bicycle lane except that you also have a speed limit imposed (in this case by your ISP)

In a nut shell:

Pros of Seedbox (SB):

1) If the SB host gives a reasonable upload speed,  it is great for maintaining ratios for private trackers.
2) Works on all operating systems, only requires configuration of a download or ftp manager that supports multi-parting.
3) Ability to have a few people in different locations download from your SB account
4) Not limited by most firewalls if the download to your pc is http based.
5) Don't have to keep your PC on for the torrent download and only for the HTTP download. Good for those who cannot keep their computers on for extended periods of time.

Cons:

1) Dual download, one to SB server, one to your computer (possibly longer time to reach your pc)
2) Subject to space limitations on your SB account. This means if you bought for eg a 20 gb account and your torrent is 30 gb, then you would have to download it partially, clear off the files, and then download the remaining parts. This tends to be rather troublesome.
3) Will take longer to download moderately/poorly seeded torrents.
4) Increased CPU/memory and bandwidth strain on the server so less users can be on one server (which tends to result in higher cost). Certain seedbox implementations when dealing with many users can result in huge lag in its GUI due to the immense CPU strain. These include popular ones such as Torrentflux.
5) If customers download illegal files, the files are stored on the server and is clearly illegal since the Admin has control over the files.
6) FTP/HTTP is more susceptible to routing issues to poor quality ISPs resulting in slower download speeds from the SB to your PC.

Pros of VPN

1) Good for most things. Works as if you are unthrottled and gives you the speed as fast as the torrent and your Streamyx line can give to you.
2) Single download, straight to your computer with no space quotas. Download a single dvd (or a few) without worrying about clearing your quota on SB.
3) Minimal effect from other people using the VPN as we allocate bandwidth instead of sharing it completely.
4) More legally secure as none of the files are held on the server unlike SB which keeps the file on the server. This is not an issue if the SB host is in an offshore country.

Cons:

1) Requires more expertise to set up
2) Subject to Streamyx upload speed (384 or 512) in seeding so might be difficult to maintain ratio in private tracker sites.
3) Requires OpenVPN so it does not work on Windows ME/98/95.
4) Firewalls can block us unless we reconfigure our server

The benefit of VPN is that you don't have to download the file twice. Also you are only limited to the hard disk of your hard drive and not your space allocation on the TF.

A seedbox works like this

1) You ask the SB server to download your file at a good speed. (this is still subject to seeder/peer ratio). You save it on your SB server subject to your size quota.
2) You download it via HTTP or FTP from the SB server at your regular ISP internet speed.

Therefore there are two downloads happening here:
Once to your TF server. Then another time to your PC.

This isn't really a problem with very well seeded torrents as in those who use good private trackers (not demonoid) since it takes maybe 5 minutes or less to download the entire file into the server. Then it takes another how many minutes to download it to your computer based on your ISP's speed.

But on a poorly seeded torrent (which are the majority of public trackers), even a fast connection on the SB will not help you. So you're still subject to the seeder/peer limitation and then have to download it AGAIN to your computer on your ISP speed.

The benefit of a seedbox is to be able to seed at much greater speeds to private trackers and its usage of FTP/HTTP which tends to be unblocked in most organizations.

[adam7979]

i subscribed to a tf service too. The advantanges, at the moment, that i'm enjoying, are:

1) i don't have to worry about getting a stupid ip range or stuck in traffic jam even if it's good ip range, thus i could almost guarantee a 100% download in less than like 10 minutes time for my favorite variety show before it dies away in like a day or two, which sometimes i couldn't do it properly over vpn with 50kbyes max, together with other 3 or 4 shows.
2) save energy, ya. i can now turn off my pc at night, and wake up tomorrow morning with guarantee that i could download the show into my pc (*almost* regardless of ip range) at 100++KB/s
3) yes, quota is some kind of problem, so is the "max number of concurrent download" but i could get some 300~400 KB/s download easily onto the tf box, almost 700++ (2 concurrent download, for the box i subscribed to) that's some kind of "you will definitely get to enjoy your show, only matter of time" feeling...

My two cents about tf. How about yours? (not you reuben )

[Reuben]

Not true. Using a TF service if it's located overseas will still be subject to routing issues...perhaps even more so.

[seu_nick]

Hi I'm Ricardo from Brazil and have difficulty in writing English ...
I have a doubt if anyone can help me I appreciate.
I want to hire a seedbox, but I want to know if she can I download a movie torrent and when it is already in seedbox can I upload to megaupload.com for remote upload.
This way I distribute to my friends without going through my computer.
which plan should I buy? Seedbox or VPN?
I apologize if I posted in the wrong place.
Thank you.