Is the VPN affecting my connection speed?

This article helps to identify potential factors that may hinder your connection speed and provides suggestions for enhancing it.

Please use the menu below to be redirected to the information you're looking for:

1. What factors can influence my connection speed? 
2. How can I troubleshoot my connection speed issues? 
3. How can I boost the speed of my connection? 
4. I need assistance from Support

 

1. What factors can influence my connection speed?

When you have a Virtual Private Network (VPN) running on your device/computer, it's not uncommon to experience a decrease in internet speed and slightly longer response times.

VPNs redirect all traffic through an extra intermediary point. This rerouting is done to safeguard your location and identity. Consequently, data passes through a VPN server twice: once exiting your device/computer and once re-entering.

The additional encryption involved can result in a slight decrease in connection speed. This is a standard and anticipated outcome, so there's no need to be concerned. It's all part of the process of safeguarding the privacy of your location and identity.

However, other factors may also affect your connection speed, namely: the physical distance between your device/computer and the VPN server; the number of users on the same server; the VPN protocol used and your internet speed.

PLEASE NOTE:

The speed provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) plays a crucial role in determining your actual internet speed and can be the root cause of your slow connection issues.

If you're experiencing a noticeable decline in performance or consistently slow response times, refer to section 2. How can I troubleshoot my connection speed issues and follow the steps provided to conduct a speed test on your connection.

2. How can I troubleshoot my connection speed issues?

To troubleshoot potential causes of your connection speed issues, including VPN interference or other factors, follow these steps:

A. Run a Speed Test: use a free speed test service like speedtest.net to check your current connection speed. The issues you're encountering may have nothing to do with your VPN and the underlying problem may be the low speed of your internet service provider. If that's the case, we recommend contacting your Internet Service Provider to find a solution according to your needs.

B. Turn Off your VPN: temporarily disable your VPN and use the internet as per usual. This will allow you to understand if there is a significant difference in speed when you have the VPN Off, versus On. If there's no difference, but your connection continues to be slow, refer to point A and run a speed test.

If none of the above steps helped, please refer to section 3. How can I boost the speed of my connection? and follow the recommendations provided.

3. How can I boost the speed of my connection?

To enhance your connection speed, if you've exhausted the troubleshooting steps from section 2 without success, consider these solutions:

A. Switch the network you're using: try switching between mobile data and Wi-Fi networks to find the one that performs better with the VPN. This is often a simple solution to fix slow connection speeds.

B. Disable the battery-saving mode: battery-saving modes and optimizations are great to give us more mobility, however they often impact the device/computer network functions. Try turning off the battery-saving mode and optimizations in your device/computer settings and see if it positively impacts the performance of your connection.

C. Reboot your device/computer: another simple solution with great results is restarting your device/computer. Rebooting the system closes all apps/processes that were open/running in the background, and also clears all other idle processes that might have been affecting the speed of your connection.

If you need help with your Privacy Shield VPN settings, please refer to our help article How can I set up AdTranquility's features: Spam Shield, Privacy Shield VPN and Ad-blocker? or reach out to our Support team. 

4. I need assistance from Support

If you have any questions or require further assistance, please contact our Support team* at [e-mail]. We’ll be happy to assist.

*Support is available in English only.