AT&T Bans Customers That Use Torrents: The Story Behind It And How To Avoid This
How to avoid getting fines for torrenting on AT&T with VPN
AT&T is the world’s largest telecommunications company with millions of users. In 2018 they have announced that they will be fighting torrenting customers by terminating their broadband connection and sending fines. They have kept their word ever since.
Torrenting is an illegal activity and all ISPs are bound to make sure their customers stay out of trouble and if they do torrent — receive copyright infringement notices or fines. Since many customers of AT&T have been ignoring copyright notices, the ISP decided to start terminating their internet connections because of the violations. It is the ISP’s responsibility to send fines and notices to their customers from copyright holders so there is no surprise why such actions have been taken.
Since by torrenting you might end up receiving a fine or receiving no internet connection there are two ways people can deal with it:
- Stop
- Use VPN and torrent anonymously
AT&T and VPN: How can it help and what is the best VPN
VPN encrypts your traffic and changes your IP address, by doing so it can help people hide from their ISP monitoring and also helps to bypass getting caught while torrenting. There are hundreds of VPNs in the market, but don’t get fooled, not all of them are good for torrenting, especially the free ones.
Surfshark VPN is my personal solution for safe torrenting and anonymity online. And it is because of few reasons:
- Doesn’t collect logs which means you will absolutely anonymous
- Has fast servers worldwide
- Supports torrenting
- Supports an unlimited number of devices
- Has a built-in ad-blocker and kill-switch
- Easy to use and set up on any device
- Offers 30-day money back guarantee
- 24/7 customer support
Also Surfshark is one of the cheapest VPNs in the market and right now they even offer an 81% discount. You can get the discount here.
Other good options are:
How to use VPN with AT&T
- Sign up for VPN and buy their subscription
- Download their app on the device you will be using for torrenting
- Absolutely a must: activate your VPNs kill-switch, it will ensure that if your VPN connection drops the internet connection will drop also
- Connect to recommended servers, they will be the fastest ones for you
- Keep your VPN connected all the time when your torrents are active
What to do if you receive AT&T copyright infringement alert
When you receive your first copyright infringement alert or notice don’t be scared, ISP usually sends only notices at first to scare their customers a little bit and ask them to stop preceding the illegal torrenting. You might get a few alerts before actually receiving a fine, but don’t be stupid and either stop torrenting after the first alert or invest in a VPN.
What to do if you use a VPN but still receive AT&T copyright infringement alert
There is a possibility that you might receive a copyright notice even though you have been torrenting with a VPN, don’t panic. First of all your VPN might not be the best option for you, there are VPNs who collect logs and don’t ensure 100% anonymity. Go back to the list of VPNs I have stated above.
If you are using a high quality VPN and still receive a fine it could be because you forgot to turn on your kill-switch which is super crucial for torrenting. Go back to your VPN app and turn on the kill-switch. And always check online before torrenting if your IP address has changed after you connected to the VPN.
