Why should I be connectable ?

If you are in a local network or behind a router or a firewall, the tracker and the other users usually can not connect to you. This means that the tracker can not send you updated information and other users can not request parts of the torrent from you, your download speed is slower because also your upload speed is smaller.

You should do everything in your powers to become connectable, that is to make it possible for other users to connect to you. However, you must be careful because this also implies a lot of risks, you should always have an antivirus running and perhaps a well configured firewall.

First thing you need to know in order to become connectable is if you have a static IP or a dynamic IP. A dynamic IP is assigned to your computer for example when you use a dial-up service to connect to the Internet or on very large networks, with hundreds of computers (because the IP's are managed by the server). The dynamic IP is dynamic because as soon as you turn of your computer, the IP is free and can be set to another computer and as soon as you turn on the computer you receive another IP. A static IP is set once in the control panel and it's yours, nobody can take it.

You can find your IP by accessing the site called What Is My IP.

If you are in a local network or behind a router, the IP shown on the site may not be yours, it may be the router's IP or the local network server's IP.

In Windows, you see the IP in the TCP/IP Properties Panel of your network card or modem :

Finding your IP

or by clicking the Start button, selecting run, opening a console by typing cmd and then typing there:

ipconfig -all

As you see in the picture, my local IP is 172.28.1.1 but the IP visible on the Internet is the router's IP, 193.220.17.1.

In this case, a port must be forwarded, this process is called port forwarding. You will have to ask the administrator of your network server in a very nice way to forward a port. If you have a router, you have to do it yourself but don't worry, you can find a lot of help on this following sites :

Port-Forward.com - lots of routers and configurations
Port Forwarding for Compaq routers
Port Forwarding from Netgear Routers
Port Forwarding from DLink Routers

If you still have problems making yourself connectable, you should talk to the administrators or the users of the site you are on, they will usually help you out if you ask nicely.

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