But if you have to deal with a slow VPN all the time, then it can get annoying.
In this article, we’ll look at what causes VPNs to slow down and how to fix this issue. We will show you which are the fastest VPNs in Australia.
The Fastest VPNs
Sometimes the problem for slow connection may be the VPN itself. If you’re using a free VPN don’t expect it to reach high download speeds. That’s why we recommend that you switch to a paid one, which isn’t as expensive as you might think. For just around USD 13 a month, you can purchase a license from an excellent VPN like CyberGhost.
Here’s a top 4 list of the fastest VPNs for connecting to Australian Servers in 2019:
Express VPN
You’ll find Express VPN in a lot of top lists. That’s because it’s one of the fastest and most powerful VPNs around. If your regular download speed is 95-100 Mbps, expect the VPN to cap at around 85 Mbps when connected to an Australian server. This is more than enough for most intense activities such as online gaming.
Express VPN has got around 3000 servers located in 94 different countries. Hence, if one Australian server is congested, you can quickly switch between several others. In fact, Express VPN provides city-level servers in Australia, which give you super low levels of latency.
NordVPN
NordVPN is one of the largest networks out there, boasting 12 million customers worldwide. It’s slightly faster than Express VPN, with just 5% loss in speed with local servers. This is way more speed than the average user requires.
NordVPN has got 5600 servers spread across 60 countries, with 200 city-level servers based in Australia! This pretty much allows you to eliminate latencies.
Cyberghost
Cyberghost lets you achieve a maximum speed of 54 Mbps with a 95 Mbps connection. It’s got 4600 servers spread across 84 cities, including 3 in Australia. While it may not have the same number of Australian city-level servers as NordVPN, there’s still very little latency.
Ipvanish
When IPVanish is running on a local Australian server you’ll only experience a 10% loss in speed. This puts it in the same league as NordVPN and Express VPN. Plus it beats everything else in terms of the number of IP addresses provided: 40,000! Yes, you read that correctly.
With 40,000 virtual IP addresses available, you’ll never ever have to worry about server congestion!
Reasons Why Your VPN is Slow at the Moment?
The Internet is constantly busy, transporting packets of data back and forth across billions of devices. Typically, networks try to take the shortest path to route these packets. When these become congested with overwhelming traffic, alternate (sometimes longer) routes have to be taken. As a result, internet speeds can become slow for some time.
Your internet speed is like a ceiling for your VPN. Its own speed cannot go beyond it. In fact, the VPN is almost always 10-20% slower than your internet connection. This is mainly due to the fact that the VPN needs additional computational power to encrypt each data packet.
Hence, if your VPN speeds are slower than usual, check if your internet connection has stalled as well. If not, begin the troubleshooting process:
1. Try A Top Rated VPN Service (See List Above)
One of the top reasons why your VPN is slow, is because you didn’t pick a fast service.
The VPN providers above are among the fastest VPNs in Australia.
2. Try Changing Your Port Or Protocol
Think of ports as channels through which data is transported and protocols as the methods utilized to do it. Your VPN has a specific port number and protocol which it uses to connect to its servers.
Different ports and protocols may have different speeds, due to the restriction imposed by certain networks. Hence, try changing either the port or protocol (or both) until you achieve a faster downloads speed.
3. Try Switching To A Wired Connection
Wireless signals meet a lot of obstructions when travelling through air, hence speeds can drop significantly. On the other hand, wired connections support much greater speeds and lower latencies.
4. Try Installing VPN On A Device
You can either install a VPN on your Wi-Fi router or on each individual device. We recommend always going for the latter.
When a VPN is installed on a router, it typically tends to be slower. This is because routers don’t have the computational power that your smartphone or computer has. In fact, a smartphone that’s a couple of years old can be more powerful than most of the latest routers.
The reason for this is simple: routers don’t need that much power to be effective. Hence, they’re hardly ever fitted with the latest-generation CPUs. As a result, your VPN will have less processing to encrypt your data.
5. Try Switching Your Device
If your device is slow, to begin with, a VPN isn’t magically going to make it faster. Low processing power in older devices can cause severe bottlenecks in VPN speeds. If that is the case, try testing the VPN on a more powerful smartphone or computer.
6. Try Disabling Your Firewall
Your Firewall is sort of like an inspection officer. It refuses to let out outgoing data packets without first scanning each one. This process can severely dampen the speed of your VPN. Hence, try disabling your firewall to determine whether it is causing this bottleneck.
7. Try Restarting Your Device
Sometimes the problem is quite simple: your device’s RAM may be fatigued. Hence, try restarting your device to free up some space in its memory. If this doesn’t work, try restarting your router as well. Memory leaks in routers can cause VPNs to slow down.
8. Try Switching To A Different Server
With most VPNs, you have the option to choose which server to connect to. The closer the server is to your own geographical location, the faster your VPN’s speed will be. This is simply because servers that are closer have lower latency.
Furthermore, VPNs tend to have multiple servers located in certain countries. This allows you to try different routes to bypass any congestion and achieve the fastest speeds possible.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How can I test my VPN? The easiest way is to turn on your VPN, select your favorite server, and test the speed of your VPN on SpeedTest.
Is VPN worth it? Honestly, yes it’s worth every dollar. They are so cheap and you can even get some awesome discounts.
Does VPN slow your internet speed? Unfortunately yes, because you have to connect to a server first. However the slower speed is unnoticeable for most users.
In Conclusion
Slow VPNs are quite annoying, especially if you’re doing something intense like online gaming. Fortunately, there are many ways to improve the speed of your VPN. This includes switching to a different server, changing ports/protocols, and switching devices.
Sometimes the VPN itself is just not capable of reaching high speeds. In that case, we recommend switching to one of the aforementioned ones.