If you’re well versed in the world of VPNs, you may be aware that it can slow down the internet speed once you use a VPN. Although VPNs tend to decrease internet speed, there’s no hard and fast rule. There are a few exceptions. We’ll go into all of it in detail. We’ll talk about how VPN connection speed sometimes surpasses internet connection speed and how to improve a slow VPN connection. So without any further ado, let’s get into it.
How To Check Your VPN Speed
You can take the following steps to determine whether your VPN is slow. Firstly, you can connect to your VPN and go to speedtest.net to run the test. Once you get the results, disconnect from the VPN and try again. The comparison will give you a good idea of the speed difference. Running the speed test with and without a VPN and comparing the results will let you know how much the VPN impacts your internet speed.
How Can A VPN Help With Internet Speed?
As we had mentioned, VPNs typically reduce internet speed due to a wide variety of reasons. However, there are rare circumstances where VPNs help improve internet speed.
Bypassing ISP Throttling
ISPs (Internet Service Providers) may throttle certain types of Internet traffic that take up a lot of bandwidth. It can include peer-to-peer downloads or high-definition streaming. It leads to slower speeds for those activities. To get around this, you can connect to a VPN. VPNs encrypt internet traffic, therefore hiding its nature from ISPs. It will enable you to bypass ISP throttling and experience improved and faster speed.
Optimized Routing
VPNs offer optimized routing paths to specific destinations, leading to faster speed when compared with your internet connection. It’s beneficial if your ISP’s network is congested.
The impact on VPN speed depends on many factors, such as the quality of the VPN service, the location of the server, and your internet connection. In order to decrease VPN speed issues, it’s recommended to go for a reputable and fastest VPN service and choose a server nearer to your location. You can do this by testing different servers and seeing which works best.
Can VPNs Slow An Internet Connection?
Using a VPN leads to latency and slower speed. The VPN adds a step between you and the website you’re trying to access. Latency is the time it takes for a data packet to leave its origin and reach its destination.
For example, if you’re online gaming, latency is the delay of the actions in the game and their response on the server. If you’re browsing online, it’s the delay between when the user clicks on a link to view an image and when the browser displays that picture. So why do VPNs increase latency? Here are a couple of significant reasons:
Encryption & Decryption
VPNs encrypt internet traffic. The data packets are encrypted before they’re transmitted and then decrypted at the receiving end. Secure encryption protocols create more latency. The encryption process adds an extra layer of processing, mainly if the server is located far away.
Server Capacity
If you’re connected to a VPN experiencing a high traffic load, it may increase latency. It happens when multiple users are connected to the same server. When there’s an overload of users on the server, it can lead to delays in processing data and its transmission.
Network Infrastructure
The quality and performance of your network infrastructure strongly impact latency. If the network has bottlenecks or congestion, it will enhance latency regardless of how efficient the VPN provider may be.
Longer Routing Path
When you connect to a VPN server, your internet traffic redirects through the server before reaching its destination. The rerouting enhances the physical distance between you and the websites you’re trying to access, leading to potentially longer latency.
How Can I Speed Up The VPN Connection?
If you find that your VPN connection is slowing down, you can implement a few tips and tricks to help you enhance its speed.
Choose A Nearby Server
Choose a VPN server that is geographically nearer to your location. The distance between your actual location and the VPN server significantly affects latency and speed. Connecting to a server closer to your location can help improve speed.
Choose A Server With A Lower Load
Popular servers can experience a high traffic load. It would be ideal to choose a server that has a lower number of users. A server with a lower load of users guarantees better performance and faster speed.
Try Different VPN Protocols
VPNs have different kinds of protocols for security and data transmission. You can test out other protocols, like WireGuard or OpenVPN, and see which works best for you and offers good speed and security. Some protocols may work faster than others due to them being more efficient.
Optimize Your Network
Ensure that your network is optimized for speed. Close any unnecessary devices, applications, or tabs taking up significant bandwidth. You can also check your router settings for quality of service (QoS) features that prioritize VPN traffic or provide more bandwidth to your VPN connection.
Avoid Free VPNs
Using a free VPN may sound enticing, but it doesn’t perform as well as a premium VPN service. They have few servers to select from, and they are all overloaded with users, impacting your VPN speed and not offering you an enjoyable experience.
Free VPNs also sell your data without your knowledge and consent and sell it to third parties such as marketers and advertisers. Given the lack of privacy and your confidential data being at risk, it’s advisable not to opt for a VPN. Plus, the speed of free VPNs is often slow.
Use WireGuard Protocol
We mentioned earlier that specific VPN protocols can enhance speed and performance. Here’s where we give a special shoutout to WireGuard, which launched recently and has since become popular in the VPN market.
Speed tests have shown it to be faster and more efficient than OpenVPN, although OpenVPN is still excellent regarding privacy. You can switch between different protocols, but WireGuard helps improve speed and performance.
Conclusion
VPNs don’t usually improve internet speed; they lower it for the most part. However, there are always exceptions to every rule. VPNs can increase speed in certain situations, for example, in cases of ISP Throttling. VPNs encrypt internet traffic, making it difficult for ISPs to track online activities.
While VPNs don’t necessarily improve internet speed, there are certain situations where it is possible. You can also use a speedy VPN service that offers good speed, excellent encryption protocols, and an extensive list of servers since connecting to a VPN server nearer to your location helps improve speed.
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