How to Read a VPN Speed Test and Ping Test

If you’re planning on using a VPN to protect your privacy online, it’s important to know what speed you’re actually getting. You don’t want to pay for high-speed VPN only to find out it doesn’t always work as expected. The following guide will help you interpret the various results of a VPN speed test for a popular, fast, and reliable VPN provider.

Introduction

When you launch a VPN, you’ll see a speed test at the top of the screen. This is the result of a request to the VPN’s server, which is sent every few minutes throughout the day.

The idea is that if the server is too busy to respond to your request quickly, it might indicate that you’re connected to a less optimised server. However, this could also mean that the server is simply having a hard time keeping up with all the requests. In that case, you’ll need to consider upgrading your VPN plan.

Interpreting The Results Of A VPN Speed Test

When you first launch a VPN, you’ll see a screen asking you to enter your email address and click ‘Create Account’. After that, you’ll see a VPN sign up wizard. On the left side of the screen, you’ll see different connection modes. For the purposes of this tutorial, we’ll be focusing on the Classic (Open VPN) mode.

As mentioned, if you launch a VPN and choose Classic (Open VPN) mode, you’ll see a speed test at the top of the screen. To the right of the speed test, you’ll see five red dots. These are the five networks that the VPN is currently connecting to.

If the speed is extremely slow compared to your expected speed, you can try choosing one of the other four connection modes. However, if the speed is close to your expected speed, there’s no need to change anything. Simply wait till the next speed test (usually every few minutes).

Common Problems And Potential Solutions

In addition to slow speeds, you might also encounter the following problems when using a VPN.

No Speed Improvement

If you perform a VPN speed test immediately after connecting to a network (e.g., a WiFi hotspot), the results will show no apparent speed improvement. The reason for this is that the VPN isn’t yet fully configured. It takes some time for OpenVPN to assign you a dynamic IP address and login to your account.

To verify that your VPN is indeed working, you can enter the following command in the terminal:

ping www.google.com | grep -i "round-trip"

This command will make your computer ping google.com multiple times. The number of round trips will determine how well your computer is able to communicate with google.com. Typically, a ping should reach four times before the result becomes unreliable. However, you should note that this might vary depending on your Internet connection. If your Internet connection is fast, you might see a higher number of rounds before the results become unreliable.

Unreliable Results

Depending on the VPN you are using, you might get a result that is completely unreliable. For example, if you are using the ProtonVPN app to connect to ProtonVPN and choose the Free option, you’ll get unreliable results. This happens because ProtonVPN is a free option and doesn’t offer a money-back guarantee. If you are unsatisfied with their service, you’ll have to contact customer support for a refund.

Using VPN For Privacy

A common question that comes up when people read about VPNs is “Can I use a VPN to protect my privacy?” The short answer is yes, you can use a VPN to protect your privacy as long as you understand the risks. In order to properly protect your privacy while using a VPN, you will need to engage in a little bit of extra work. For example, you will need to ensure that your VPN is set up to hide your IP address (a process which we discussed earlier in this article). With that, you can ensure that your personal data is not being tracked by third parties (e.g., advertisers). You will also need to take care not to use any personal details when logging in to forums or using social media sites that are not private.

Using VPN for privacy is not a trivial task. If you want to do it right, it will require some time to go through the steps. For that reason, we’ve created this quick-cheat sheet containing all the basic information you need to know about using a VPN for privacy. Make sure to bookmark it so you can come back to it whenever you need. It will be updated regularly to ensure that you always have the most recent information.

To follow along, simply open up the Cheat Sheet in a new tab. When you’re done, come back here and make sure to print out and save the page. That way you’ll always have a physical copy close at hand.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we’d like to remind you that the information discussed here is only relevant if you are using a VPN to protect your privacy. For the sake of privacy, we highly recommend that you avoid using public Wi-Fi when you can. Instead, use a VPN to ensure that your personal data is not being monitored or recorded by third parties (e.g., advertisers or internet service providers).