I have a problem, I have 500MB internet, but with VPN speed is never over 100-120MBps no matter what server I am connected to and through which protocol. It also doesn’t matter what client I am using: Android, Windows, MacOS.
What can I do to increase the speed? Where is the problem? Router? Internet provider? How do I figure that out?
You can try connecting to other exit nodes, but that’s not the worse speed ever, I’d call that not bad. It’s not really low for a VPN though. Realistically, you need to adjust your expectations. I’ve never seen any VPN provider give near the full speed of a high speed connection.
You’d likely only get that kind of performance if you built your own private high speed connection through a hosting service or public cloud and paid a lot of money for connectivity. Consider that your Internet connection probably costs you more than 3-4$ a month, you probably shouldn’t expect performance of that speed for that price. A VPN is essentially moving your connection to another location.
Obvious question, but I’ll ask anyway - what are your speed test results with vpn off?
You should see about a 30% decrease when vpn is on. The reality is any given vpn server you are going through could have its own bandwidth caps. I would try different servers,even particularly not chosing fastest, and try severs in nearby states instead to check results. Try multiple connection tests so you get different paths to test and note the server ID assigned each time.if you have tried a dozen all with same results, make sure you also try switching protocol to udp and try a couple that way. I was having my speed capped too, and switching to udp fixed it until I determined the real cause was my killer network drivers that were capping me to about 30%of my total bandwidth (only when vpn was on and using tcp or nordlynx protocols). Once I Uninstalled those drivers, my cap went away and I could use all 3 protocols without any cap on any of them. This could be the same issue here. Look for any gaming network software like killer that could be doing the same thing to you.
On my Mac’s with a gig fiber connection my results:
No VPN speed: 840 Mbps
VPN On with Lynx Protocol: 233 Mpbs Down / 277 Mpbs Up
This has been consistent for me no matter, if it’s Lynx, OpenVPN or a different server close to me.
Proton VPN with Wireguard about the exact same results as Nord.
I attribute the speed drop to the VPN overhead.
THat’s the problem, with VPN off I have all 500 MB, with it just 120. I expect some bandwidth loss with VPN on, but not that much. Other VPN services I tried had no problem pulling 300-400MB through the connection, but not NordVPN.
I would try different servers,even particularly not chosing fastest, and try severs in nearby states instead to check results.
I tried maybe 20 different servers all around the world, both close and far. Still 120.
make sure you also try switching protocol
I did that
killer network drivers
Unfortunately not my case, I tried different devices with different OS with the same result.