Does VPN speed depend on internet speed?

The internet speed determines the speed of a VPN, as the VPN can only work as fast as the internet connection. Security and privacy are the main priority of a VPN, so a decrease in performance of 10-20% is typical.

Does where you live to affect your VPN speed?

For optimal performance, connecting to a server location close to your physical location is recommended. This is because it minimizes the distance data packets need to travel to reach the VPN server, reducing latency and improving performance. So, it is generally best to avoid servers that are located far away.

How to choose the best VPN for speed?

The speed of a VPN is important as it can affect the user experience. To determine the most important speed metrics, consider download and upload speeds and ping time. Download speed is important for downloading large files or streaming, while upload speed is important for transferring data such as photo backups. Ping time measures the time it takes for data to travel from your device to the VPN server and back and is important for real-time applications such as online gaming. To find a VPN provider with the best connection speeds, consider the country you want to connect to, and remember that a provider's speed may vary in different countries.

13 Tips to Make Your VPN Faster

Sneak peek at why VPN causes slow speeds

One major complaint regarding VPNs from the users is slow connection speed. The effect of the underlying VPN encryption on connection speed is understandable to some extent. But a drastic speed drop can be annoying for most users. Nonetheless, you can avoid this problem significantly by using robust VPNs that warrant fast speeds. Besides, tweaking a few features, like activating split tunneling, choosing nearby servers, and using fast VPN protocols can also improve your VPN speeds. Still, there’s more to it that this guide explains in detail.

Slow internet is one of the frustrations almost everyone faces today. Unfortunately, a bad VPN can make that situation even worse.

While you may want your internet activity to be more private and secure, you probably don’t wanna see a massive drop in speed.

So what can you do? Luckily for you, there are several things you can do to make VPN faster.

While many factors lead to a slower VPN connection, you can also use many techniques to make your VPN fast. But before we get to them, let’s cover some essential stuff you need to know.

What is latency?

Latency, in the context of the internet, refers to the delay between a user’s action and the corresponding response. For example, the time it takes for an image to appear on a browser after a user clicks on a link to view it. If it takes several seconds for the image to load after a user clicks on the link, it means that the user’s request is experiencing high latency.

The physical distance between the point of data access and delivery mainly causes latency. So, the farther apart these points are, the greater the latency a user will experience. For instance, if you request a website with a Content Delivery Network (CDN) server located nearby, the request and response will be rapid as the distance is short. However, when you request a website server located far away, the latency will be significantly higher as the distance is longer. The request and response travel through a series of routers, much like taking an international flight with multiple connections, which introduces more latency with each ‘hop’ from one router to another.

Why does VPN slow down my internet speed?

There are a couple of critical reasons you are experiencing a VPN slowdown that could affect your internet speed.

The question of why VPN slows down at home internet is not addressed directly. But yes, there are potential variables that affect slower internet performance.

Bad server location

The first reason you are experiencing slow VPN speed is that you might have connected to a server that’s too far away. If you’re in the UK and connected to a server in New Zealand, that means your data has a much greater distance of travel. More distance equals slower speed.

Too many users or an overloaded server

Another reason is that the VPN server you’re connecting to has too many users connected and hence a high server load. In short, it can’t dedicate enough resources to you to keep your speed high.

ISP data capping or wrong protocol

Your ISP being capped at speeds below the maximum a VPN can provide might answer your question, “Why does VPN slow down my internet speed?” Or, you might be using a protocol that slows down your internet speed.