VPN kills internet

[noah.b.bowman]

I have ExpressVPN. Whenever I connect, after about 20-30 minutes, my internet slows down to the point of being unusable. This is all internet. I only have the VPN set up on my computer but the wireless and other computers hooked up to the router also go down.

I have done speed tests immediately after connecting and I'm getting about 27 Mbps download and 5.5 Mbps upload. After it slows down, I get about 500 Kbps and 5.5 Mbps. The Upload does not change.

I am at a loss and I don't even know how to search for this problem.

 

[bill001g]

Look at the resource monitor and see what is running traffic. VPN is best though of putting you mail into a second envelope to hide the address on the internal one. The VPN adds overhead to every packet but it does not send data independently. It just wraps the packets you send in the vpn.

If it does this with no traffic being run....ie you can unplug your vpn machines and others are still affected it likely is some bug in the router firmware.

 

[jamescolter]

I think you have open WiFi or the password is easily accessible to people around you because you said it gets slow after 20 30 minutes. Try changing the password and setting the encryption to WPA2.

Also, try changing the server of your VPN because it might be populated with other users. I have PureVPN subscription and it works perfectly fine for me, the speed drop is from 20 Mbps to 17~18 Mbps because of encryption and selecting nearest servers.

 

[micheal.heitzman]

It all depends upon the speed your ISP provides....speed of a VPN cannot exceed the speed of your provider...so maybe upgrading your ISP or VPN deal may help but that's just me... I could be wrong.....

You can check the reviews here at Best 2018 VPN Reviews as to whether your VPN can overcome these situations or not.

 

[Math Geek]

considering you said only one pc actually has the vpn installed and uses it. the other devices should not be effected by it in any way. since they are you have to look at the router or your isp for what may be causing the issue. the vpn slowing you down would only cause the single device connected to it to slow down.

your isp may be throttling your connection due to the vpn. check and see if they have any policy against them or other reason why 30 minutes of high usage would cause them to throttle you. most likely the isp is the issue with the router being second on the list.

whatever it is you are doing with the vpn try it on the same pc with the vpn turned off and see if the same throttling pops up after a while. unless your doing something illegal with the vpn then turning it off for a while should not be a problem.

 

[madmanx]

I've heard that some VPNs might affect and decrease the overall speed, but for me using a VPN doesn't have any impact on my internet connection (I am using NordVPN). I think the best solution is to choose the right server for you. You can read about it here: https://nordvpn.solutions/privacy-news/does-vpn-slow-down-internet/

 

[Math Geek]

I've heard that some VPNs might affect and decrease the overall speed,

you've heard right and for a lot of users. remember a vpn forces all your traffic through a single server before going anywhere else. so if the server is busy, overloaded or just plain a long way away, then all your traffic will be effected by this. plus artificial limits placed by the vpn comes into play as well. may don't allow p2p or limit it to specific servers, or may limit bandwidth, have data caps and so on.

it's up to you to do the research and be sure the vpn/server you are choosing is the right one for your planned usage. most of the problems we see here are from people who just did not know the right questions to ask and thus did not get the right answers to fit their needs. but we're always happy to educate people on what the right questions are