Quick Guide How To Speed Test Your VPN
Tip:
What Factors Affect My Internet Speed
A low internet speed isnt wanted by anyone but why is my internet speed is so slow? Have you ever had such a problem? To speed up your Internet speed, you, first of all, should know what factors affect your internet speed, which is just what is to be discussed below.
Broadband Connection
The biggest factor affecting your Internet connection is the Internet service provided by your ISP. If you purchased an Internet service with a speed of 5Mbps, its never possible for you to expect an internet speed of 25Mbps no matter what measures youll make to speed it up.
Cable vs. Wireless
A cable connection always beats a wireless connection.
As WiFi is used, your internet speed will be possibly slowed down due to many factors such as WiFi network quality or modem location.
Although the maximum internet speed of WiFi reaches 860Mbps, it can never defeat the Ethernet connection that is able to provide you with a maximum 10Gbps Internet speed.
Therefore, a cable connection should be used especially when a high internet speed is required as streaming or online gaming will be implemented. You can get your smart TV or game console connected through a cable so that an ideal internet speed will be ensured.
Hardware
Its perhaps your hardware that slows down your internet speed.
Your internet connection may be delayed or stopped if an old PC or a device with a low processing speed is used.
Malware
To stop your device from being infected by malware, you can use a VPN to stop it.
Router
Does A VPN Increase Internet Speed
Due to the encryption process, you typically see an increase of 5 to 10% in usage. Your VPN can only be as fast as your Internet connection if you do so correctly. If you use a VPN, you are most likely going to notice a drop of around 10% to 20% in speed, since the main focus should always be on security and privacy.
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Does VPN Decrease Internet Speed Lets Test It
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Does A VPN Slow Down Internet Speed
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How Does A VPN Speed Up Internet
Every internet plan on the market has a maximum speed that could be 10Mbps or 600Mbps, or anywhere in between and sometimes higher but thats not the speed youll experience all the time. Your ISP monitors its customers traffic and, if it detects certain activities, it can throttle your connection.
Throttling is the controversial practice of slowing down individual users connections to either discourage them from engaging in a certain activity or save bandwidth at peak times. Sometimes an ISP will throttle every users connection something a VPN cant avoid but for selective throttling a VPN is very useful.
Strategy # : Try Using A Different VPN Service
I highly recommend subscribing to at least two VPN service providers .
One will be used as your main VPN provider and the other will be used as a backup.
There are times when a VPN server is overloaded due to a high volume of traffic. Additionally, there are some VPNs that limit bandwidth and throttle speeds .
Having a backup VPN helps you circumvent these issues.
There are a number of features you should consider with a VPN, but if your primary focus is speed, youre going to want to hone in on their server quality.
Note About Free VPNs
I recommend you avoid free VPN providers. They naturally have more users than paid VPN providers and are not secure.
There are a few decent free VPNs I recommend, but in even with these, high server loads translate into lower connection speeds since too many people will be trying to use the servers simultaneously.
It doesnt matter the number of servers the free VPN has, there will still be too many users. This is why I always say its worth investing in a quality VPN service.
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Hotspot Shield Speed Test Data
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Website: www.Tunnelbear.com
Money-back guarantee: 7 DAYS
TunnelBear has risen in the ranks of the fastest VPNs with an average download speed of 61 Mbps. Its the only VPN on this list with a free version, though its capped at 500 MB per month. This is a novice-friendly VPN with easy-to-use apps for PC, Mac, iOS, and Android, plus a handy Chrome extension.
TunnelBear employs strong encryption and sticks to a strict no-logs privacy policy. It doesnt reliably work with streaming services like Netflix, but its a solid option for torrenting, private browsing, and bypassing censorship in places like China. You can connect up to a maximum of five devices at once.
Change Server To A Location Near You
To make your VPN fast, you need a server near your exact place as necessary. If you are in the UK, rather than New Zealand, shoot for the UK or Europe. You may also do this on databases that are uncongested.
It might slow down your internet speed if you select a geographically remote server from your actual position. Linking to a nearby server can help to boost your VPN speed and lower latency.
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Get Rid Of Background Apps On Your Device
Your VPN isnt the only application that uses the internet on your device. You might have a bunch of programs running quietly in the background, chewing up both bandwidth and resources without you even realizing it. The more activity you have on your internet connection, the slower your VPN will feel. And on a mobile connection, this unwanted activity can eat through your data plan before youve even realized it.
Remove junk files and unwanted programs to speed up your PC, Mac, Android, or iOS device and restore your internet performance. A faster, optimized computer or phone will be better able to focus its resources on the programs you actually want to use. With more bandwidth available, your VPN should run much faster than before.
Choose A Different VPN Server
As weve explained above, a VPN sends your encrypted data to an external server from where it is forwarded to the destination address. The further away the server is from your location, the longer itll take to transmit data to the external VPN server.
Hence, an easy way to increase your VPN speed is to switch servers and opt for one thats closest to your geographic location. Choosing the closest server reduces the distance your data has to travel and should improve your internet speed.
Most premium VPNs, like ExpressVPN and NordVPN, usually select the fastest VPN servers available for your coordinates. You should really only change the VPN server if youre looking to access content thats unavailable in your location or available only in a specific region.
Sometimes your speed may not improve despite selecting the server located closest to you. This can happen because of the high server load. In such situations, choose a different server thats less congested to get a faster connection. A server in another country also lets you access geo-restricted content.
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Peak Versus Average Speed
In the 2017 State of the Internet report from Akamai, the average peak connection speed across both North and South America is 44.6 Mbps, but the global average internet connection speednot peakis a mere 7.2 Mbps. Thats just one-sixth of the peak average. So what does this mean for VPN providers?
We all share the internet, and we cant all get the maximum speed advertised by our Internet Service Providers every second of every day. Network congestion plays a huge role in your download speed both on and off the VPN, but its twice as likely to take a toll when connected to a VPN.
When you download a file from a server without a VPN, theres a chance you will encounter network congestion, most likely on your nearby ISP network or at the download server itself. When you use a VPN service, you add a third potential bottleneck to the route. Whether because of server load or congestion on the network surrounding the server, theres a higher chance that your speed will be affected while connected to a VPN.
When choosing a VPN server, take these factors into consideration. VPNs are subject to the same peak-versus-average conundrum as everyone else. If possible, choose a VPN server in a time zone thats in off-peak hours. Some VPN apps have built in speed tests or show the current server load in real time, which can give you an indication of whether youll be able to max out your allotted download speed.
How To Get Faster VPN Speeds Simple Hacks
Using a VPN will slow down your internet connection, but if you follow these tips, you can minimize the impact.
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Check VPN Server Coverage
Coverage is crucial to getting access to a server in a prime location. This can be a server closest to a users current location, which should offer them the least latency and highest internet speeds. Users may also need to be able to access servers in various locations, which would allow them to stream content from different countries or avoid regional restrictions. Check a providers server coverage and the locations available on their website before signing up.
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Restart Your Router And Other Devices
When was the last time you restarted your devices? Just like anything else, tech like your computer and router occasionally need a little R& R. When you reboot your computer, you’ll give it a needed refresh, free up some RAM and get it working optimally. So, as cliche as it sounds, try turning it off and back on again, then see how your VPN speeds improve as a result.
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How Do I Get The Fastest Server For Gaming
If you’re an online gamer who uses a VPN to access another region’s servers , the most important factor in choosing a VPN is latency, also called ping. The ping time between the game servers and your computer or console is mostly what determines how much lag you’ll experience. If you want to stay competitive, figure out where the game’s regional servers are hosted and choose the VPN’s closest server. Download rate is also important, but gaming requires less bandwidth than you might think. The first priority should always be reducing latency.
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Connect To A Local Network
Technically, the greater the distance between you and your destination website, the longer it will take you to get there. The same is true with VPNs.
When you connect to a server on another continent, your connection may become even slower than it was before. Connect to a VPN server that is as close to your location as feasible. If your ISP is throttling, you’ll get far better outcomes when it comes to speeding up your Internet connection.
Does A VPN Cause A Slower Internet Connection
In short, it shouldnt. But it possibly can.
First of all, a VPN is not created to slow down your connection. Contradictorily, it aims to boost your internet connection by avoiding bandwidth throttling and deploying more efficient routing.
Avoiding Bandwidth Throttling
Your bandwidth is limited by your Internet Service Provider . Thats a fact, no matter what they claim in their advertising. As soon as you use the Internet, your ISP will track you. Perhaps they dont intentionally do but they really can.
Your ISP can monitor your bandwidth usage, looking for extraordinarily high levels of data transmission as you stream video, download large files, torrent, or play online games. Most of the time, youll stay within your allowance, but if you want to do more than one of those things at a time or have multiple users hooked up, you can easily exceed it. Instantly, your ISP will know and throttle your bandwidth, causing videos to switch to the low-resolution mode or to suffer from buffering and video games to lag. When a VPN is used for your Internet connection, however, your ISP cannot check your bandwidth usage. And that means youll slip right past their bandwidth throttling measures.
So, a VPN connection doesnt genetically slow down your Internet speed while it provides you unlimited bandwidth and accelerates it.
How routing works, and how to make it more efficient
A VPN isnt Created to Slow the Internet
However, a VPN stops ISP from bandwidth throttling.
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Pick A Different Server
In general, the further your traffic has to travel to your VPN providers servers, the slower your VPN will be. Speed is also affected by how powerful those servers are, and how many people are using them at the same time, but all things being equal, distance matters.
Try picking a closer server to enjoy a faster connection. If its experiencing heavy traffic during peak hours, pick another server nearby to improve your Internet speed. Its a good idea to subscribe to a VPN service that offers many servers across dozens of countries to have a fast connection.
How To Check Your VPN Speed
To see how internet speed differs when connected to servers in different locations, run a speed test and take a look at the ping time. It shows the length of delays in the connection between your device and the server its communicating with. This will give you some inkling of how much latency youre likely to experience.
Here’s a quick and easy way to perform a VPN speed test:
- Turn your VPN off
- Search your browser for Internet speed test.
- Make a note of your upload and download speeds.
- Now, turn your VPN on and connect to a server of your choice.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4, and compare your speed results. You should now see the difference in speed when using a VPN, compared to when you’re not using a VPN.
To run a VPN speed test for NordVPN, we used the Ookla service for speed testing while connected to Wi-Fi. Without a VPN, using a local speed test server, the internet speed looked like this:
When connected to a recommended server via the auto-connect functionality, which picks an optimized server based on its load and geographical proximity, we noticed a slight decrease in the download and upload speed.
When continuing to experiment by connecting to servers in geographically distant countries, we got varying results depending on the server location. Generally, the closer the server, the less the internet speed drops. That being said, some countries have faster internet speeds which can make your VPN faster.
Supercharge your online experience.
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