{"id":318675,"date":"2019-09-08T12:55:54","date_gmt":"2019-09-08T10:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=318675"},"modified":"2019-09-08T12:56:59","modified_gmt":"2019-09-08T10:56:59","slug":"3-reasons-your-internet-is-slower-when-using-a-vpn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/internet\/318675-3-reasons-your-internet-is-slower-when-using-a-vpn.html","title":{"rendered":"3 reasons your Internet is slower when using a VPN"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent revelation that South Africa has been running mass surveillance<\/a><\/strong> of its citizens has raised privacy concerns.<\/p>\n

South African intelligence agencies confirmed in an affidavit that they record \u201ctransnational signals\u201d including data transmitted over undersea fibre cables.<\/p>\n

While this revelation may encourage many South Africans to use a VPN to protect their data, there are downsides to this.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest issues with VPNs that they can slow down your Internet experience.<\/p>\n

There are three main reasons this is the case.<\/p>\n

Server location<\/h3>\n

VPNs essentially spoof a user’s location, meaning that users are often operating through servers that are far away from their physical location.<\/p>\n

While this can be useful for accessing content in other countries, it also means that your data has a longer distance to travel.<\/p>\n

Without a VPN, data is transmitted through the fastest possible route \u2013 whereas using a VPN usually means your data takes a detour.<\/p>\n

Encryption<\/h3>\n

VPNs use various encryption and security techniques to ensure that they keep your data private.<\/p>\n

This allows them to ensure that your actual location is not shown, allowing you to operate as if you were in the same country as your VPN server.<\/p>\n

However, these additional security processes take time to complete over and above traditional security measures.<\/p>\n

This results in your data transfer rates slowing down while these processes are completed.<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that there is a trade-off between strong encryption and speed, meaning that the most secure VPNs might hurt your speeds the most.<\/p>\n

Server load<\/h3>\n

VPNs often suffer from overloaded servers, meaning that your Internet speed is affected.<\/p>\n

Most VPNs don\u2019t offer clear insight into the load on their various servers, making it difficult to choose a server that is not congested.<\/p>\n

To solve this, you can try different servers to find one that has a lower server load.<\/p>\n

The effect of VPNs on speed<\/h3>\n

PCMag<\/a><\/strong> has performed tests on popular VPNs to determine the fastest services on the market.<\/p>\n

The measurement used in these tests was the percentage by which a user’s Internet speed was slowed when using a VPNs. This means that a lower percentage difference is better.<\/p>\n

The top five VPNs in these tests by download speed were.<\/p>\n