Top 10 Ways to Speed Up Your VPN Connection

Using VPNs is a great way to improve your online security, as it obscures your identity and personal information while you surf the web. VPNs also provide other useful services, like unblocking geo-restricted content and encrypting your activity online.

There are certain drawbacks to using VPNs, however, particularly in terms of the impact they have on your internet speed. It’s common that internet speed slows down significantly when connected to a VPN, which can cause videos to buffer or downloads to take much longer. These 10 methods will help you surf the web at top speeds while using a VPN.

Use a weaker form of encryption

There are numerous encryption standards available to VPN users, including the powerful 256-bit AES encryption. This strong encryption may not suit your individual needs, however. Because encryption and decryption rely on processing power, if you have a weaker setup, it may make your Internet speeds unusably slow. By switching to a weaker form of encryption, you might find the right balance between security and speed.

Invest in a good VPN

While there are many incredible free VPNs on the market, they’re known to be considerably slower than paid services. Consider purchasing a paid VPN service and experiencing an increase in performance with their powerful servers and dedication to quality customer experience.

Upgrade your device

Your hardware quality can have a significant impact on VPN speeds, especially if the client is set up to handle decryption and encryption on your computer’s hardware. By upgrading your device to better handle the VPN’s needs, you can improve the quality of your web surfing.

Try different VPN protocols

Different VPNs provide different protocols, some of which may perform better with your specific router, device, and service provider. By experimenting with the different VPN protocols, you may find one that works best for your specific setup.

Restart your computer and/or router/modem

Sometimes, performance issues can be simply related to temporary, small issues related to running your computer or router/modem for a long time. By restarting your computer or unplugging your router/modem, you may find that upon rebooting, you have significantly better performance. This is because of many processes reset, some of which run into errors after long runtimes.

Choose the closest server to connect to.

Distance is an important aspect of VPN connections because data packets will take longer to get to VPN servers that are further away. By selecting a VPN server that is close to your actual location, the distance that packets will have to travel each way will be significantly decreased.

You can assess the quality of your connection by checking the latency of the server you’re connected to and comparing it to other servers available with your VPN. The lowest latency server is the best one. If you’re accessing geo-restricted content, it’s best to pick the one with the lowest latency that can still access the restricted content.

Use an Ethernet connection

A smart way to improve your connection speeds while using a VPN is to connect directly to your router using an Ethernet cable. Ethernet is faster and more stable compared to Wi-Fi, particularly because of the interference Wi-Fi can face with other devices, walls and other blockages, and distance from the router. If you test your connection with an Ethernet connection versus with Wi-Fi, you may find significant increases in speed.

Disable your antivirus and firewall

While your antivirus and firewall are important for keeping your data safe as you browse the web, some of this software can significantly impact your computer’s performance. If you find that disabling your antivirus and firewall improves your speed while using a VPN, you should consider finding higher-quality software that can keep you safe while not impacting your Internet speed.

Turn on split tunnelling

With split tunnelling enabled, you can select which devices on your network the VPN works on. By restricting the VPN’s activity to the device you intend to use it with, you can improve the overall speeds by ensuring all processing power is dedicated to your device. This can result in massive increases in connection speeds and overall performance.

Use a router that is VPN-compatible

Certain routers are considered VPN-compatible and help handle the encryption and decryption necessary for the VPN service. If your computer has low processing power, using a VPN-compatible router can enhance your overall connection speeds.

VPN-compatible routers can differ in their processing power, so it’s best to pick a more powerful one that can support higher speeds of encryption and decryption if possible. And remember, to use the router with your VPN, you will need to configure the VPN client on the router.

Do you have any other tips for speeding up your VPD connection? If you do why not let us know in the comments below.