Is Your VPN Killing Your Internet Speeds? Here’s How to Fix It

While VPNs, or virtual private networks, are great at protecting your privacy, there is an unavoidable trade-off: they slow down your internet speeds, often by 50% or more.

That’s nature how vpns workand there is no way to do it. VPN I encrypt Your internet traffic and routes your connection through a remote server. While this keeps your online activity private, it’s this process that’s mostly responsible for the speed loss. It takes a while to encrypt and decrypt your traffic and send your data back and forth to the VPN server and back to your device. However, there are a few things you can try if you want to get the fastest possible VPN connection speeds.

Other factors, such as the VPN protocol you are using or the number of people using the same VPN server you are connecting through, can also affect the overall speed loss.

The speed drop may be virtually unnoticeable during normal internet use when you are using fast vpnBut you’ll need all the speeds you can get for data-intensive activities like gaming, streaming, and videoconferencing. Even a few milliseconds of lag can mean the difference between glory and failure in your online game. And slow VPN speeds can result in a broken video streaming experience, marred by constant buffering and a healthy dose of pixelation. If you’re using a VPN during a Zoom call, for example, you should do everything you can to maximize your VPN speeds to ensure your connection is smooth and free from drops.

If your VPN isn’t as fast as you need it to be, here’s what you can do to speed up your connection.

Read more: Best VPNs, Tested and Rated

7 Ways to Improve VPN Speed

Connect to a server closer to your physical location

Generally speaking, the closer a VPN server is to your physical location, the faster your connection speeds should be. Your traffic will have a shorter physical distance to travel when it’s routed through a VPN server that’s close by, rather than one that’s on the other side of the world. If you’re in Boston, your VPN connection speeds should be significantly faster if you connect to a VPN server in New York or Montreal than they would be if you connected to a server in Sydney or Tokyo, for example.

This won’t always be practical if, for example, you want to stream content from a specific country or access a gaming server from a specific location. But if you need a faster connection, try connecting to a few different VPN servers near where you’re physically located and see which ones provide the fastest speeds. Some VPNs have a speed test feature built into their apps, but you can always use a speed test website like Ookla Speedtest to check your connection speed.

If you’re looking for a VPN with plenty of server locations, try NordVPN, which offers servers in 111 different countries – you’re sure to find some relatively close to your location.

Connect to a server that is not overloaded

When too many people use a single VPN server, the server can become congested and your connection speeds can drop. Some VPN providers display the current server load on their servers in the app itself or on their website. If you choose one that has less load, you will usually get faster speeds. If your VPN provider doesn’t display the current load on its servers, try connecting to a few different ones to see which one gives you the fastest speeds. Sometimes, all it takes is a little trial and error.

Try connecting via a different VPN protocol

A VPN protocol is a set of instructions between the VPN app on your device and the VPN server that determines how to establish a secure connection. There are different VPN protocols, and most providers give you a few different options to choose from depending on what platform you’re using. Different protocols have different advantages and disadvantages when it comes to speed and security, so if you connect using one VPN protocol over another, you could potentially increase the speed of your VPN.

OpenVPN is currently the most proven protocol and offers a good combination of speed, stability, and security – but there are protocols that can provide faster speeds. More and more VPN providers are now offering newer VPN protocols, such as WireGuard or their own proprietary protocols – such as Lightway ExpressVPN and NordLynx NordVPN, which offer lightning-fast speeds combined with solid security.

Switching to one of these other protocols, if offered by your VPN provider, may give you faster VPN connection speeds. Keep in mind that these protocols have not been as thoroughly tested in real-world conditions as OpenVPN, so they should not be your first choice for critical VPN use.

If you prefer to use OpenVPN exclusively, use UDP instead of TCP for the best speeds. While TCP is usually the more stable option, it tends to be slower than UDP because it has to send data packets in the correct order and will wait for an acknowledgment of receipt from the recipient before sending the next packet. UDP doesn’t care about the order in which it sends data packets or receiving acknowledgment that they were received, so it tends to be faster but less stable.

Most VPN apps allow you to change the protocol used to connect in the settings section, so try playing around with the protocol settings to see which one gives you the fastest speeds.

Enable split tunneling if available

If your VPN provider offers split tunneling, try enabling it to see if you can increase your VPN speeds. Split tunneling allows you to send only the traffic you want through the VPN connection, while sending the rest unencrypted through your regular internet connection.

For example, if you use a VPN for streaming, you can allocate only your streaming traffic to go through the VPN, which won’t slow down your online gaming. This can help optimize your VPN speed for certain activities, since all the extra traffic you don’t need going through the VPN won’t burden your bandwidth.

Use a wired connection

Using a wired connection will generally be faster than using Wi-Fi. Chances are you have several devices connected to your home Wi-Fi network at the same time—devices that are all sharing and competing for resources on the same wireless channel. This can result in an unstable internet connection and, as a result, slower speeds. If you have the right equipment, try a wired connection by connecting your computer directly to your router with an Ethernet cable, and then connect to your VPN.

Close unnecessary applications running in the background

If you have apps running in the background that you’re not using, they could be taking up resources on your computer and slowing down your connection. Take a moment to see if there’s anything running in the background that you’re not using, and close those processes. By removing potential bottlenecks like this, you could see a faster connection.

Restart your router and other devices

When was the last time you restarted your devices? Like everything else, technology like your computer and router sometimes needs a little R&R. When you restart your computer, you give it a much-needed refresh, free up some RAM, and make it run at its best. So, as cliché as it sounds, try turning it off and on again and see how your VPN speeds improve as a result.