Try These 7 Tips to Improve Your VPN Connection Speed

Using a VPN offers many advantages. With, unfortunately, more often than not, the inconvenience of greatly reducing the flow. However, things can be improved.

Use a vpn adds a rather effective layer of protection to your internet connection by encrypting your traffic and passing it through a server located, most often, in another country. In doing so, unfortunately, your connection speed suffers greatly. And there really isn’t a solution against that.

This loss of speed can sometimes be imperceptible, but sometimes it is very annoying. For gaming, streaming or video calling, for example. Also, if your VPN isn’t as “fast” as you need it to be, here’s what you can try.

Connect to a server physically closer to your home

Generally speaking, the closer the VPN server is to where you are, the faster the speed should be. Your traffic will have less to roam, so the information will come back faster. This isn’t always possible if you need to connect in a particular country, for example, but if you can, feel free to give it a try.

Some VPNs have a speed test feature in their apps, but you can always use a dedicated site like Ookla Speedtest to perform the test.

Connect to a server not overloaded

When too many users use the same VPN server, it gets overloaded and your connection speed suffers. Some VPNs display the status of their servers in real time. If you choose a non-overloaded server, you should see the difference in your throughput. If you don’t have this information, try several servers to find out which one gives you the highest speed.

Try 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 the secure connection should be established. There are a number of them, each with their advantages and disadvantages in terms of speed and security. If you connect through one protocol over another, you can improve speed.

Today, OpenVPN is the most popular, offering a good compromise between speed, stability and security. Many vendors also offer newer protocols like IKEv2 and WireGuard which promise to be faster while still being very fast. Some have even developed their own proprietary protocols like ExpressVPN’s Lightway and NordVPN’s NordLynx. Switching to one of these protocols can increase your throughput. Beware though, these haven’t been as proven as OpenVPN.

If you prefer to use OpenVPN, opt for UDP over TCP. While TCP is often more stable, it is slower than UDP. Most VPN apps allow you to change the protocol in their settings. Try switching to see what gives you the fastest speeds.

Enable split-tunneling if available

If your provider offers split-tunneling functionality, try enabling it to see if your throughput increases. This allows only the traffic you want to be sent over the VPN connection, with the rest sent the traditional way by your ISP.

For example, if you’re using your VPN for streaming, you can only pass streaming traffic through the VPN, so you don’t slow down your online gaming sessions. It also optimizes your VPN speeds for certain activities. The less data passing through the pipe, the higher the throughput.

Use a wired connection

Using a wired connection often offers higher speeds than via Wi-Fi. Chances are that you have several devices constantly connected to Wi-Fi. This already uses a lot of bandwidth. If you have the necessary equipment, try connecting directly to your router by wire and then connecting to your VPN.

Close non-essential background apps

If you have apps running in the background that you don’t use, they can consume resources and slow down your connection. Take the time to tidy up and close what you don’t use. You’ll get a better running computer and possibly higher throughput.

Restart the router and other devices

When was the last time you restarted your devices? Computers, routers and the like also occasionally need to be restarted. When you restart your computer, you free up RAM, close long-running processes, and more. As cliché as it sounds, rebooting can impact your throughputs. Try.