OpenVPN Support Forum

maybe someone can help me understand this....
in the past I've tried several internet vpn providers and my broadband speed has always been a bit slower when connected to their service. I know this slowdown is common with vpn providers. For several months however I've been using phantompeer and when I'm connected to their service my internet browsing speeds up, and is faster than when I'm not connected and just surfing normally. I use openvpn as a client to connect to their service.
I wrote to phantompeer to enquire why this would be but they couldn't shed any light. I'm not complaining of course, I really like the speed increase but I can't figure out why this is the case. When I'm not connected to the vpn and just surfing from my normal ip the internet works but is a bit clunky and slower, with a slight delay on most pages.
As a beginner I'll take a wild guess: could this be because my isp is 'processing' what I'm doing on the net? When I'm in the tunnel they can't see what I'm doing so there's nothing to process but maybe I'm wrong. Thanks if anyone can shed light.

ps: I'm just a customer and I have no links or ties to phantompeer.

In which part of the world are you currently?

I'm in the uk (england)

Sorry to bring back up a dead thread, but I thought I'd share some potential reasons.

Using a VPN creates a type of tunnel which prevents the need for use of local services. Most importantly, this bypasses your local router's and your ISP's DNS servers directly. While obviously your computer is still making DNS queries, they're going through a VPN connection to potentially their DNS or your locally configured DNS settings. For example, if you are using Google Plus DNS, it may be faster using a VPN which is located closer.

Aside from DNS, your speed could also be increased by geographic location. For example, most websites you visit are likely hosted in parts of America. Using a VPN that is located in Netherlands or Canada for example would give you a better constant connection due to their high bandwidth to major central hubs in America.

Furthermore if you are on an ISP which uses some type of boost, this can often impact your overall connection, a VPN will often bypass this change in speed so you maintain a more constant speed. The other problem imposed by ISPs is shared connections, as more people around you hit your ISPs cables, servers, and datacenters all the connections slow accordingly. A VPN does not bypass this but if you are on a dedicated connection a VPN can result in a constant connection, adding little overhead or decrease in speed, whereas shared connections due to the overhead will often have a worse result due to the increased overhead and the extra data being sent through a shared connection.

So hypothetically, if you have an old router, a bad ISP that still offers you a dedicated connection, and you live in a semi-remote part of England you may be able to result in faster speeds from a VPN. However, it's still unlikely to increase your normal browsing speeds unless the issue is either your DNS or you're on a shared connection and you have a bad latency which is somehow increased by a VPN.