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VPNs are useful tools for keeping you safe while you’re online. They mask your identity while you browse, ensuring that your ISP can’t see what you’re doing, and can even protect you from certain types of hacks. They can also allow you to access web content that is usually geographically restricted. With that being said, it can be quite frustrating when you have to put up with a slow VPN connection. This can happen for a number of reasons which we will discuss below.
Check Your Internet Connection
This should probably be your starting point. It’s easy to suspect your VPN as being the culprit, but the problem might lie outside of your VPN connection. You may need to check to see if there are any issues with the service being provided by your ISP. The problem may lie with your ISP themselves or there might be a problem with the internet hardware in your home/office. Make sure that there are no issues with the router. You should even try restarting your router to see if that solves your issues.
You can also try updating the firmware of your router because, believe it or not, your router firmware can become outdated and lead to issues with your internet connection. If you are connected to the internet via a wireless connection, you may also want to try connecting via a wired connection to see if that makes a difference.
Change VPN Servers
Just like with any other server, VPN servers can become strained if there are too many users connected. If you are experiencing slow connection speeds, this may be because of too many users using the server simultaneously. With a good VPN provider (even a free one like ProtonVPN or Hide.me), you should rarely experience this. It is a possibility, however. Try switching servers to see if this helps. You should be able to switch to a server in the same location, since VPN providers typically provide more than one server per location.
Change VPN Port/Protocol
You have more than one option when it comes to VPN ports and protocols. You can switch ports by going into your VPN settings and browsing through the network settings. You should experiment with the port/protocol combinations to see which one works best for you. For example, some public WiFi hotspots work best on Port 443 with the TCP protocol.
Restart/Reinstall Your Client
Some issues are simply a result of the VPN software on the machine you’re using. As a first step, you can try restarting your VPN client. Make sure that it is fully closed before restarting it. If this doesn’t help, you can try reinstalling your VPN client and that should hopefully make a difference.
Wrapping Up
VPNs are becoming increasingly important tools for our internet connected devices. This means that the connection speeds that you get while using one are quite important. It can be a pain when your connection is slow, but we hope that if you’re experiencing this, one of the solutions we have outlined above can assist you.
