VPN or Virtual Private Network services are used to browse the web discretely or to spoof your location and mask your IP address. It is often used to access geographically blocked content over the web or to access data without legal authorisation.

VPN services come with their limitations and hence lead to problems at times. There are various VPN software’s that are available on the internet that provides a secure and trusted VPN connection either for free or with a paid subscription.

In this article, we list down seven ways that you can use to increase the speed of your VPN connection.

Change your server location

Almost every VPN service gives you an option to which server you are connecting to in the world, so let’s say you’re currently living in New York and your connection is connecting to Australia.

Simply changing your location to a server that is physically located closer to your current geographical location can itself make a difference.

So, now if you change the server location to Chicago, logistically, your speed should increase even if ever so slightly. The general rule is to connect your server to a location that is physically closer to yours unless you want to spoof your location.

Also read: What is ‘five eyes’ surveillance? How does it affect VPN services?

Change your connection protocol

The level of encryption of your VPN connection is also directly related to the speed of your connection. For instance, if your VPN is connected to IPSec or OpenVPN protocol, changing it to the faster but less secure PPTP connection protocol might speed up your connection.

You can look for these settings in the VPN program or the preferences menu of that program to make this change.

Check your network connection

What I mean by this is, if you’re connected to WiFi and your signal is weak, no matter what you try, your speeds are still going to be slow because of your weak connection.

Consider plugging in a LAN cable into your computer or getting closer to your Wi-Fi router to get the best speed.

The problem can also lie with your Internet Service Provider (ISP), consider changing your current plan or your ISP itself.

Try using a different VPN service

Subscribing to a couple of VPN services can be of great help to you. The other service can act as a backup when the first server fails to work or if there is too much network congestion or server problems.

Often one VPN service turns out to be faster than the other and that way you can decide of the VPN is a problem, or your internet connection itself is slow to work.

Some VPN services also limit the bandwidth usage and throttle speeds to avoid server problems.

Reset your computer

We know this might not seem like the modern way solution, but sometimes if not always, it works. It is hard to explain, but when your device’s network adapters and your virtual internet connection adapter is reset (the adapter that helps connect to a VPN), there is a high chance that you may get higher speeds than before.

Security and Firewall

Firewalls and other software’s such as anti-viruses can slow down your VPN connection by filtering and scanning the outbound packets.

Disabling your network protection is not recommended, but in some cases, it may help with the speed if that is what is needed.

Change your device

Sometimes, it may be the case where your device or hardware may not support high-speed connections. Some older PCs and phones do not support high speeds due to such hardware limitations.

VPN tunnelling uses a lot of resources and heavy encryption that leads to various problems of which one is speed limitation.

Also read:10 best free VPN Services you can use to surf the internet freely and Are free VPNs secure? Should you use them?