My internet speed is more than 10x faster after installing VPN… is this normal?

VPN
1

Just wondering why this is happening. Never used a VPN before but decided to try Nord while I was traveling internationally so I could use some streaming services.

Since coming back home I’ve noticed my internet speed has quadrupled from what it was before. This is repeatable too, if I turn off or uninstall the VPN my speeds go back to ~40MB/sec… with VPN turned on, my speed has gone to over 500MB/sec. It’s the same across all devices.

Have I just been accepting shitty internet speed for years?! Is my ISP doing something illegal like keeping my connection slow on purpose or something?

It’s not just numbers on the speed test either, everything loads instantly now. Videos play immediately now, there’s no buffering or loading. This is crazy.

Do I need to sue my ISP for keeping my connection so ridiculously slow for all these years? WTH?

2

Before you consider suing your ISP, perhaps you should look at the Internet package/ speeds you signed up for.

It also depends on what device you are using. Many devices are limited to 100mbps. Whereas some others have 1000mbs capability.

3

ISP Internet throttling does happen but before you come to that conclusion there’s many factors you should take into consideration.

  • What are the speeds you’re paying for?

-Did you update your devices to the latest updates?

  • Does your ISP have any agreements in their policies that they’ll reduce your speeds based on applications or traffic?

  • Do your know your peak times and does your ISP reduce speeds because of peak time?

There are many other questions but you should first check your Internet package.

4

That ping is strangly high compared to vpn. Try running a tracert w/wo vpn to the same server.

5

Share speedtest result url for before and after

6

But its really strange normally isp speeds are more than that connected to vpn

7

VPN can sometimes improve your internet speed, e.g. if your ISP is deliberately throttling or limiting your bandwidth for certain activities such as streaming or torrenting, VPN can bypass it. But it’s more common for a VPN to cause a slight drop in speed due to the additional step of encryption and routing your traffic through a server. However, happy to see that using VPN improved your internet speed.

8

I don’t see an option to share the result url. Here’s screenshot I just took though:

I just ran it, here is VPN turned off and
here is VPN turned on.

Only 400% faster (lol) with VPN turned on right now. But when I tried earlier I was getting 40MB/sec with no VPN and over 500MB/sec (!) with VPN turned on.

9

Yeah I have a feeling they’ve been throttling my connection. I usually have a window open with my cable provider (yeah I have cable lol) where I can stream live tv, and it used to always be fuzzy low quality. Now it’s sharp and crisp 24/7 and it corresponds with the speed test results when I have VPN active. Kind of sad it took an international trip for me to try a VPN and realize how slow my internets been.

10

That’s megabits (Mb), not megabytes (MB). 522Mbps is ~65MB/s.