How to Get the Most Speed from Your VPN

There is nothing more annoying than having a VPN that is incredibly slow. All of a sudden, your internet connection becomes painfully slow, even with all your devices connected to the router. It’s a nightmare! We all know why VPNs are slow (high latency, etc.), but what can we do about it? Here are some handy little tricks that’ll help you get the most speed out of your VPN.

Adjust Your Connection Settings

The first thing you should do is adjust your connection settings on your device. If your VPN is set up correctly, everything should be fine and dandy. However, sometimes the settings are a bit off and need a bit of adjusting. There are a few things you can do to remedy the situation:

• Go into your VPN app and see if there are any options for VPN servers that are close to you. If you are in New York and your VPN is in London, you are going to have a bad time. The servers are going to be far away, and therefore, so is going to be your speed.
• Adjust the TCP/IP settings on your device to prefer an open port instead of a closed one. If you have an open port on your router (usually there is one for Netflix), you can try changing it to prefer an open port. It’s the same for most other apps that require an open port (websites, etc.).
• Check for updates and/or changes in your VPN app. Sometimes apps get a little bloated over time, and you as a user may encounter some glitches. If you find that your VPN is consistently slow, take a look at its app to see if there are any updates or changes that could help you improve your experience. You can also try switching to a different VPN app if the one you have isn’t working out for you.
• Make sure you are always up to date with the latest security patches. There are a few things you can do to ensure that your devices are always secure (apply security patches, change default passwords, etc.), but it is a good idea to keep your software up to date with the latest security patches to avoid any vulnerabilities. You can use a tool like Avast Secure Line to automatically update all your devices with the latest security patches (even if you don’t want to update all of them manually).

Consider Using a Faster, More Reliable Network

You can’t control how fast other people’s networks are, but you can control how fast your network is. There are a few things you can do to improve the speed of your network, and therefore, your VPN:

• If you have a fast internet connection at home, you can try using a VPN that has a fast server. There are a few options out there that allow you to connect with a server in multiple locations (such as OpenVPN and IPsec).
• If you are on an older model smartphone or tablet, you can consider upgrading to either a newer device or trying out a VPN that is compatible with older devices. The reason behind this is that many VPNs have a limit on the number of devices you can connect to their server at once. If your current device meets the requirements, consider switching to a VPN that is compatible with older devices.
• Try connecting to a VPN server that is closer to you. In general, the closer the server, the faster you are going to experience speeds. This is because the farther away a server is, the more data it has to travel to get to you. The closer the server, the faster its data is going to travel (less latency). If you are traveling, changing the server location generally results in a significant increase in speed. For example, connecting to a VPN server in London instead of in the United States will increase your speed by at least 50% (sometimes even more).

Use a Different Browser

Chrome is by far the most popular browser in the world, with approximately half of all internet users around the globe relying on the browser for their internet connection. While the default web browser on your device will not make much difference, the fact is that using a different browser can give you a significant speed boost. Why? The short answer is that most browsers are compatible with TLS1.2 (a more secure version of the protocol that was introduced in the mid-2000s), allowing web servers to communicate securely without having to update anything. If you use the same browser on all your devices, you cannot take advantage of this speed increase.

The most popular browsers that are compatible with TLS1.2 are as follows:

• Chrome
• Safari
• Opera
• Edge
• Firefox

If you use one of these browsers, you will notice a significant increase in speed when connecting to a VPN (assuming your VPN is also compatible with these browsers). The reason behind this is that web servers will no longer need to perform extra work to ensure that they can communicate securely with your device. Since every other device on your network is already using a secure protocol, the web server knows that it will be able to communicate safely and securely with your device, so it reduces the amount of effort it needs to make to ensure this. In other words, when using one of these browsers, connecting to a VPN is like having a private tunnel directly to the web.

Use a Hardware VPN Engine

There are some VPNs out there that pack a bigger punch than your average app. If you are looking for a solution that is going to give you a superior VPN experience, consider looking into a hardware VPN engine. Hardware engines are built into Wi-Fi hotspots so that all the devices within range can connect simultaneously. This is great if you have a lot of devices (laptops, tablets, and cell phones) that need to connect to the internet. Having a hardware VPN engine will make your network very secure and will speed up your overall connection because there is no limit to the number of devices you can connect to it.

The best part about hardware VPN engines is that they are completely automatic. You don’t have to do anything to get them to work! Simply connect your devices to the network and they will start working immediately.

Consider Using Different Services

Many of the above tips consider changing the way you use your internet, but you can go the extra mile and use a VPN for other purposes as well. There are tons of services out there that will allow you to do this, so make sure you try them out. Some examples: