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VPN speeds things up?!

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
Puzzle me this:

I have nominally 40 Mbps down/5 Mbps up CenturyLink service. I have a VPN setup through my employer, a big university. I ran two tests with speedtest.net while connected via my same home 802.11n WiFi router:

- connected to VPN: 18 Mbps down, 4.3 Mbps up
- not connected to VPN: 7.17 Mbps down, 0.75 Mbps up

I later realized they used different servers. I also had two DropCam cameras running so was eating up about 1 Mbps down and up at that time. I switched to the same server later and got even worse speeds when not connected to the VPN.

What gives? Why does my connection seem to be quicker when using the VPN? Does it compress data on that last leg to me? In theory the bandwidth of the university itself shouldn't be limited too much.
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,191
19,156
Canaderp
I don't think the end point in your house will make a difference. The VPN will still be routed through in the same manner.

Is the speed test possibly being gauged from a point on the campus and not your end?
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,553
It seems faster in that I had no glitches in 1080p HBO Now playback while going through the VPN. Weirdness.
 

StiHacka

Compensating for something
Jan 4, 2013
21,560
12,504
In hell. Welcome!