VPN (Virtual Private Network) proves to be a very useful tool when it comes to accessing a whole array of sites that you might have never seen before due to restrictions, However, this useful tool sometimes becomes a reason of a headache by slowing down the speed of processing and ramping up the duration you need to complete your work.
There is a wide variety of reasons that might be causing your problem. But you don’t have to suffer because of the slow speed caused by the VPN, we are here to help you troubleshoot and you don’t need to be an IT professional to do it.
How VPN works?
VPN is a form of secured connection between you and the internet, working to mask your actual IP address with some other IP address by routing it through some other server, encrypting and decrypting your data along the way making your location invisible to everyone.
Diagnose the problem
Before getting into the solutions, we need to make sure that the sluggish speed of your internet is the direct result of your VPN and not some other reason.
For that first of all open a speed testing website or app and check the speed of your internet without enacting your VPN and take a note of all the numbers to keep track,
Next, you need to activate your VPN and then check the speed and compare both the numbers. In case you notice that the numbers are modest (around 60% of the original speed) when your VPN is active, that might be the root of your problem and now we can go ahead with the solutions.
How to fix the problem?
Once we know the cause of the problem, we can get into the solutions.
Although different VPN’s have different user interface and settings, here we will try to give you a general way to get a solution and get rid of any kind of issue that you might be facing.
Changing Server
The simplest and the first solution that you should try is switching servers, It is possible that you might be getting a low ping because the server you chose might be of a faraway location or it is also possible that it might have massive traffic because of being a popular location resulting in slower speed.
For example, if you chose a place like New York City for your server it might be already running with an overload slowing your connection. Similarly, if the server is from a faraway location the processing of data may take more time.
Changing Protocol
If switching servers doesn’t do it for you then there is a chance that changing protocol might work.
The VPN software connects to the servers using a unique port number and a specific protocol. Certain networks restrict some protocols resulting in slower speed
Most workers utilize the OpenVPN convention for its solid security and superiority, and this ought to be your first decision in quite a while. Check your custom settings and on the off chance that you can choose a convention, pick OpenVPN.
OpenVPN might be confined or choked on certain organizations, and if that is the situation, changing to an option may take care of the issue.
L2TP/IPSec is presumably your second-most ideal alternative with Its 256-bit encryption makes a sensible showing of guarding you, even though it has some potential security issues.
Try changing to different ports until you find the port that works best for you and gives you the ideal speed.
Changing Protocol Settings
Sometimes after selecting a certain protocol you might see the problem is still persistent. It is because some network providers may be hindering the settings you are on.
In this case, try changing the settings of the protocol and see if that makes a change. However, when doing this it is imperative to be careful as changing the wrong settings can expose your network and that might have some serious implications.
While making these efforts you can also try using WireGuard it might boost up your speed and result in much faster connection.
Use wired connection
While using wi-fi the network speed is very uncertain and might keep varying because of the number of devices connected( more devices result in slower speed), they might sometimes be slow because of multiple numbers of competing channels in your area.
These problems can be solved by using a wired connection as they provide a much higher speed when connected.
Changing VPN
If all of the above solutions are not able to provide you with sufficient speed it might be better if you change your VPN. As different VPN’s work with different servers with a might have different bandwidth available and different user base(these things have a major effect on the speed.)