If I understand correctly, port forwarding has no effect on download. It’s only a factor in seeding. So if that’s the case, there’s likely nothing you can do. Your download rate is entirely dependent on the behavior of the seeder you’re downloading from. If they give priority to other media that is more popular and increases their seed ratio while relegating the source you’re trying to download, then you’re at their mercy. This is why using VPNs that are capable of port forwarding is so important. You may be the only person who manages to download whatever it is your trying to grab. If the seeder you got it from goes offline, anyone else wanting that material is shit out of luck unless they happen to use Mullvad. Mullvad is great. Their privacy and pricing is very strong. I’d recommend it to anyone, but for the purpose of information availability and preservation through torrenting, a VPN capable of port forwarding is a requirement.
Right, but the poster did mention that they were making a connection and transferring at least some data, so I just kind of inferred that the seeder has port forwarding.