Does Using a VPN Make Your Internet Faster? (And What to Do)

While a VPN offers many security and privacy advantages, what most people are unaware of is that it may sometimes increase your internet speed as well. How can a VPN Make your internet faster and why does this happen?

However, before we go digging into this topic, let us establish some fundamental facts:

• A VPN, in the majority of cases, will decrease your internet speed.
• When you combine a healthy, efficient internet connection with encryption and a proxy server, your speed is certain to suffer.
• Numerous users, however, have reported faster internet speeds while utilizing a VPN. While they are not the majority, their stories provide a fascinating glimpse into how the internet works and how VPNs may help you enhance your online experience.

What is a VPN and How Can It Assist Me?

In the simplest terms, a VPN links your PC or tablet to another computer on the internet (referred to as a server) and enables you to surf the internet using that computer’s internet connection. Therefore, if the server is located in a different nation, it will seem as if you are from that nation, and you will be able to access resources that you would not usually have access to.

Thus, how does this benefit you? That is an excellent question! You may use a VPN to do the following:

• Bypass geographic limitations on websites and audio and video streaming services.
• View streaming media services such as Netflix and Hulu.
• Avoid being snooped on by untrustworthy Wi-Fi hotspots.
• By concealing your actual location online, you may achieve some anonymity.
• Avoid getting logged when torrenting.

How Do You Obtain a VPN and Which Should You Select?

Depending on your needs, you can either use a VPN from your workplace, create your own VPN server, or occasionally host one from your home — but realistically, most people are simply searching for a barrier to protect them while surfing or to enable them to watch some media online that they are unable to access from their home country.

• ExpressVPN — This VPN server offers the greatest value for money when it comes to simplicity of use, lightning-fast servers, and support for streaming video and torrenting.
• TunnelBear — This VPN is very simple to use, ideal for usage in coffee shops, and has a (limited) free tier. However, it is not suitable for torrenting or streaming media.
• StrongVPN — not as user-friendly as the others, but suitable for torrenting and streaming video.

Each of them offers a free trial period, which means you can simply request a refund if you change your mind.

How Does a VPN Work?

When you connect your computer (or another device, such as a smartphone or tablet) to a VPN, the machine behaves as if it were connected to the VPN’s local network. All of your network traffic is routed via the VPN through a secure connection. Due to the fact that your computer acts as if it is connected to a network, you may safely access local network resources even if you are located on the other side of the globe. Additionally, you’ll be able to browse the Internet as if you were physically present at the VPN’s location, which has a number of advantages whether you’re using public Wi-Fi or want to access geo-restricted websites.

When you surf the web via a VPN connection, your computer communicates with the website through the concealed VPN connection. The VPN sends the request to the website on your behalf and returns the answer from the website through a secure connection. If you use a VPN located in the United States to gain access to Netflix, they will see your connection as originating from inside the United States.

VPNs and the limited bandwidth

Even before net neutrality was repealed, ISPs worldwide routinely used bandwidth limiting and shaping (you can read about the subtle difference between these two practices here). ISPs may guarantee that, on average, all of their customers have a good experience by selectively delaying or restricting specific kinds of traffic.

However, some ISPs have now attempted to benefit from the practice by introducing fast lanes. ISPs use throttling and shaping to control your traffic by examining it and slowing it down in response to various circumstances. This may involve video streaming being slowed down, big file downloads being slowed down, peer-to-peer file transfers being slowed down, or websites not paying into the ISP’s throttling racket being slowed down!

When the VPN encrypts your traffic, it conceals it from view, even from your ISP. They cannot identify your traffic for throttling or shaping if they cannot observe what you are doing. If customers are exposed to these tactics on a consistent basis, they will notice an improvement in internet speeds while utilizing a VPN. This is arguably the most popular method for VPNs to speed up the internet. This issue will only worsen in the United States as a result of the loss of net neutrality, which has encouraged ISPs to pursue more profit-maximizing strategies.

However, this is not the only manner in which a VPN speeds up the internet.

Inefficient Internet service provider routing

Your Internet service provider (ISP) does not always route you in the most efficient manner possible. There are many causes for this, but in certain instances, it may result in decreased internet speeds.

By using a VPN, the cycle of ineffective connections may be broken. NordVPN conceals the origin and destination of your data, allowing your ISP to route it differently. If this is the case, a VPN may be able to significantly boost your internet speed each time you connect.

Will a VPN enable you to bypass buffering?

If the issue is caused by bandwidth restriction or poor ISP routing, a decent VPN may assist you in disabling the irritating spinning circle. When choosing a fast VPN, bear the following in mind:

• Speed. This seems self-evident. Yet there are a few factors to consider, like which encryption protocols are used by a VPN? For instance, NordVPN’s new NordLynx protocol is one of the fastest VPN in the world.
• Network of servers. The quantity and location of accessible servers may have a significant effect on the speed of your connection. The more servers a VPN has, the less likely it is that they will be congested and sluggish.
• Distance. the closer you are physically to a VPN server, the fewer data must travel from your device.
• Size. a bigger server network increases the chance that you will be near the server to which you are connected.

What is a reasonable internet speed?

The activities for which you use the internet determine your optimum internet speed. While 25-30 Mbps is deemed enough for the typical residential user, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

Consider the number of internet-connected gadgets in your home. How many people will be logged in concurrently? While sending an email does not need a lot of bandwidth, hobbies such as gaming do.

What if a VPN slows down my internet connection?

Unless one of the aforementioned scenarios applies to you, it’s normal to see a little decrease in internet speed while using a VPN. If, on the other hand, your speed is substantially reduced, you may wish to examine the following checklist:

Which country are you associated with?

It’s easy to forget in a digital age that your internet traffic must physically go to its destination before you can interact with anybody – and that this does not happen immediately. Consider a user in the United States who connects to a NordVPN server in Australia and then accesses a website that is physically based in the United States. Their data will have to travel the whole distance “down under” and back, resulting in a significant speed reduction compared to their normal connection.

Which security features have been activated?

NordVPN has a slew of robust security measures that enhance protection for customers that need it. These include obscure connections that conceal VPN usage, double VPN encryption that makes tracing and decrypting your connections twice as tough, and Onion Over VPN for an unparalleled degree of anonymity. Each of these advanced features comes at a cost – they need more bandwidth or processing power to operate, which means consumers will suffer slower internet connections.

Are you making use of a free VPN?

There are many reasons why you may want to avoid using a free VPN, one of which being decreased connection speeds. Due to the fact that free VPNs have less money to invest in infrastructure, their servers are often congested. Additionally, they lack the resources necessary to improve their software and provide connections to a diverse variety of nations. All of this results in a user experiencing a slow connection speed.

Final Thoughts

In most instances, you may anticipate a decrease in internet speed while utilizing a VPN. This is because your traffic is routed via a VPN server, which adds another layer of security to the data transmission process. However, by using the proper tools, methods, and configurations, you may obtain the most VPN performance possible.