10 Ways to Speed Up a Slow VPN Connection

 Using a VPN service is useful for increasing our privacy. However, while they are great for circumventing geoblocks, censorship, and maybe even saving you money, VPNs can cause problems. One of them is the internet speed becomes slow.

Then what can you do about this problem? If your VPN seems slow, here are some ways to speed up a slow VPN connection.

Does a VPN Slow Down Internet Speed?

At its core, a VPN's job is to encrypt your connection and send it through a secure server. Since it adds an extra step between you and the internet, it will definitely slow down your connection. However, there are tips you can use to reduce its impact. If your VPN is slowing down your internet, here's what to look out for:

Distance

The distance between you and your VPN server is one of the biggest factors that can decrease internet speed. Selecting a more remote connection location will cause your connection to travel farther to its destination and vice versa, resulting in slower upload and download speeds.

You can test it yourself by connecting to a VPN server far from your location, try browsing the internet, then connect to a server in your country or a neighboring country. You will see an immediate speed spike when your server of choice is closer to your location.

Server Load

Any given server has the capacity to process a certain number of users. As the limit gets closer, users may experience slow connection speeds or even fail to connect.

This is a big reason why paid VPNs can offer faster speeds. They have more servers, which means less congestion on each server, and each of those servers can accommodate more connections due to their superior hardware.

Encryption Strength

Unfortunately, superior security and privacy come at a price. Encrypting and decrypting your data takes time (both on your device and on the VPN server), so the stronger the encryption, the greater the impact on internet speed.

Weak encryption allows for higher speeds, but it will still affect your speed while offering little to no protection from a determined attacker.

How To Speed Up VPN Connection

In most cases, your internet speed will drop while using a VPN. However, with the right tools, techniques, and settings, you can achieve the best VPN speeds. Check out these 10 ways to speed up a VPN connection.

1. Check Internet Speed

If your connection is slow to begin with, your VPN is not the culprit here. Run a speed check of your Internet with and without a VPN. This will help you determine if a VPN is to blame for the slowdown or you need to upgrade your Internet plan or hardware.

2. Choose the Right Server Location

This is probably the most important thing to remember, and has to do with how VPNs work. As mentioned earlier, suppose you are in Indonesia and you are playing a game whose server is also located in Indonesia. Usually your data travels to the server using the fastest path, then returns to you on the fastest path. Latency maybe 20 milliseconds (ms).

But now let's say you are connected to a VPN server in France. Your data is first sent to France, to a server in Indonesia, back to France, then back to your device. You can see the problem, that extra distance probably means your latency is now 250 milliseconds.

For that, always make sure to choose a VPN location that is closest to your destination if you can.

3. Change the VPN Protocol

Paid VPNs come with extra security settings and other features that can change your VPN speed. Open Advanced Settings on your VPN application and try switching to another Internet protocol if available. Choose UDP for a faster connection, but be prepared to accept the risk of possible instability.

If you prefer to have a slower but more stable connection, choose TCP. Either way, you can switch between the two as much as you want. Remember that "slower" and "faster" are relative.

4. Make sure the VPN is always up-to-date

One of the main reasons why your VPN is slower than you expect is because the software you install on your computer, phone or tablet manages your connection to the VPN server. It also keeps an eye on the encryption of your internet connection.

From time to time, bugs and other issues can cause problems including slow internet. When this is identified and fixed, the VPN provider rolls out an update. The VPN provider should notify you when an update is available, making sure to download and install it right away.

5. Restart your Modem/Router

This one is as simple as it sounds. If your router/modem is running slower due to memory leaks or other issues, a restart might help.

Also, keep in mind that the VPN connection on your router will probably be slower than connecting to the VPN from your device (unless you have a very powerful router).

If you have set up a VPN on your router and the speed is too low, you may want to use a VPN mainly on your computer/phone only. Never use both at the same time, as this will make the connection even slower.

6. Adjust Encryption Level

VPNs can use different security protocols to encrypt passing data. Not all VPN services support all protocols, but many of the standard ones are widely supported.

The thing about encryption is that it can be computationally expensive. Every bit of data that comes out of your device must be encrypted, every bit of data received must be decrypted. The stronger the encryption, the more computing power you will need.

Slow CPU can cause slow VPN performance on your computer. Even if your internet can handle 100Mbps, it will be a problem if your encryption is too strong for the CPU and it will probably only process data at 10Mbps, putting a bottleneck in how fast data is processed.

Theoretically, the speed hierarchy from fastest to slowest is PPTP > L2TP/IPSec > OpenVPN > SSTP > IKEv2/IPSec. Back off one by one if your device doesn't have enough computing power. Change this in your VPN client settings, see the provider's support page for help.

7. Use a Wired Connection

Wi-Fi is great, but can reduce speed, especially if you connect multiple devices to the same network. Wireless connections use shared lines to transmit data to multiple computers and phones in your home, which can slow down your speed.

Maybe in most cases. Laptop computers often don't even have an Ethernet port. Mobile devices do not have Ethernet. However, PCs, game consoles, TV boxes, and Smart TVs often all have Ethernet ports. Connecting this device directly to your router with a good quality Ethernet cable will increase the speed significantly.

8. Change Device

Unfortunately, not all devices are as capable as others. Some, like old PCs, routers, etc. Have a processor that can not produce high speed. Tunnel VPN uses heavy encryption which hinders the ability of these devices to provide efficient performance. Sometimes, you just need to switch devices.

9. Turn Off Firewalls And Other Security Software

Your firewall and antivirus software can slow down VPN speeds as they filter through outgoing data. If you temporarily disable this tool, you can see if it is causing your VPN speed issues. However, do so at your own risk. Admins would rather lose a bit of speed but keep data safe by leaving the VPN, firewall and antivirus always on.

10. Restart Device

Your computer or smartphone is probably just “tired”. Give it a fresh start by turning it off and on. This is another old trick, but it can help increase VPN speeds and get you back to enjoying your content quickly.

Conclusion

So that's a few ways to speed up VPN connection, give it a try and see which one works best for you. Does a slow VPN occur as a result of the VPN software or settings itself or occurs as a result of interference from outside the VPN software. If you are still seeing speed issues, we recommend talking to your VPN service provider.

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That's all for the article 10 Ways to Speed Up a Slow VPN Connection. Look forward to other interesting articles and don't forget to share this article with your friends. Thank you…

Resa Risyan

Just an ordinary person who wants to share a little knowledge, hopefully the knowledge I provide can be useful for all of us. Keep in mind! Useful knowledge is an investment in the afterlife.