Why am I getting slow connection speeds while connected to the VPN?
The VPN connection speed depends on a lot of factors such as bandwidth, routing, type of encryption, load, and distance to the VPN location that you are using. Routing might differ from time to time when you connect. This can be due to bottlenecks between you and the service you are streaming from and many other factors.
Also, some ISPs try to block VPNs which results in some speed variation on the user's end. I am afraid that we have no control over such issues.
Encryption is the key feature of virtual private networks. It makes your online traffic inaccessible to hackers and snoopers so that you can browse in ultimate privacy. However, the way encryption is handled depends on a VPN service provider. It can vary in terms of quality and reliability. VPN isn’t made for making your Internet connection faster. Instead, VPN is all about security, privacy, and opening possibilities offered by the Internet. Slight drops in speed are absolutely normal, and it’s a very small sacrifice to make for enjoying ultimate privacy and security online.
These speed losses are not fated and can be minimized by following some troubleshooting steps:
Connect to a different server location.
Speeds provided by your internet service provider may affect your connection to different Unlocator VPN servers. Try to connect to a different server location. For example, if you are in the UK and connecting to a server in New Zealand, it is a substantial distance for a data packet to travel. So the nearer a server is located, the faster the Internet speed will be.
Change your VPN protocol.
PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol) is a lower level encryption method compared to L2TP and OpenVPN. With 128 bit keys, it will feel slightly faster than L2TP and OpenVPN. PPTP is ideal because of the ease of setup.
L2TP (Layer Two Tunneling Protocol) is considered a bit more secure than PPTP as it uses 256-bit keys giving a higher level of encryption. L2TP encapsulates data twice making it less efficient and slightly slower.
OpenVPN offers the most secure connection option at the moment without sacrificing performance and speed. It offers up to 256-bit encryption. When used in its default UDP mode, OpenVPN provides the best performance. However, the above technicalities may differ from one network to another. Therefore, we advise switching between the VPN protocols but in the below order:
- OpenVPN UDP
- OpenVPN TCP
- IKEV2
- L2TP/IPsec