Computers & Electronics

Best (Fastest!) VPN to use from Winnipeg?

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  • Feb 12th, 2019 2:22 pm
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Newbie
Oct 20, 2017
15 posts
84 upvotes
Winnipeg

Best (Fastest!) VPN to use from Winnipeg?

What is the best (read: fastest!) VPN service to use from Winnipeg which would consistently give over 50Mbps download speed?

I have been using Private Internet Access VPN, but have been very disappointed with its performance. Here is a summary of my experience with PIA tested using speedtest.net. I almost never get over 30Mbps download speed. The best I have seen (it was an anomaly, really) is 35Mbps for a very brief period. The usual download speed is around 15-25Mbps, which is abysmal IMHO. This is with PIA VPN client running locally on Windows 10 machine, which is an i7 based high performance PC with no internet traffic other than speedtest.net. The best speeds/lowest ping times is when connecting to any of three Canadian servers with Montreal being the best overall, but that too seldom passes 30Mbps downlaod. When connecting to various US based servers, the download speeds are much slower still--in the ~20Mbps neighbourhood. I conducted tests at various times around 24 hour clock but no significant variances to report. I also tried setting up VPN on my Netgear R8000 router using OpenVPN option. With only one client connecting through this router gave the similar, or even worse, download speeds.

My ISP is BellMTS, and the internet link's download speed is 50Mbps. Without VPN, I easily and consistently surpass this speed in speedtest.net. Otherwise, pretty usual internet traffic like video streaming (Netflix, YouTube, etc.), downloads, browsing, etc. Speed and US Netflix are the only two critical factors. Everything else, for example retention of logs etc, is secondary.
13 replies
Deal Expert
Aug 22, 2011
41788 posts
30051 upvotes
Center of Universe
Try windscribe (free full license for trial).
Deal Addict
Sep 13, 2011
1893 posts
1584 upvotes
Québec
badshah2K wrote: What is the best (read: fastest!) VPN service to use from Winnipeg which would consistently give over 50Mbps download speed?

I have been using Private Internet Access VPN, but have been very disappointed with its performance. Here is a summary of my experience with PIA tested using speedtest.net. I almost never get over 30Mbps download speed. The best I have seen (it was an anomaly, really) is 35Mbps for a very brief period. The usual download speed is around 15-25Mbps, which is abysmal IMHO. This is with PIA VPN client running locally on Windows 10 machine, which is an i7 based high performance PC with no internet traffic other than speedtest.net. The best speeds/lowest ping times is when connecting to any of three Canadian servers with Montreal being the best overall, but that too seldom passes 30Mbps downlaod. When connecting to various US based servers, the download speeds are much slower still--in the ~20Mbps neighbourhood. I conducted tests at various times around 24 hour clock but no significant variances to report. I also tried setting up VPN on my Netgear R8000 router using OpenVPN option. With only one client connecting through this router gave the similar, or even worse, download speeds.

My ISP is BellMTS, and the internet link's download speed is 50Mbps. Without VPN, I easily and consistently surpass this speed in speedtest.net. Otherwise, pretty usual internet traffic like video streaming (Netflix, YouTube, etc.), downloads, browsing, etc. Speed and US Netflix are the only two critical factors. Everything else, for example retention of logs etc, is secondary.
before changing, did you try to lower the encryption in the option of PIA ? You can even disable encryption to test, it will then only act as a proxy but that ok for streaming.
Newbie
Oct 20, 2017
15 posts
84 upvotes
Winnipeg
elgros4 wrote: before changing, did you try to lower the encryption in the option of PIA ? You can even disable encryption to test, it will then only act as a proxy but that ok for streaming.
Thanks for the suggestion.
I had not conducted any tests with encryption disabled or lowered. Since I was already running the lowest level of encryption options (128 bit), I disabled both encryption and data authentication for this round of testing. Speeds did improve. Canadian servers got more significant boost. The download speed approached 40Mbps when connected to Montreal server. US servers improved as well, but not as much. The best speed was from Chicago server, which topped out at ~35Mbps.

I can run with encryption disabled, but then whats the point of a VPN, right? And I need to connect to US servers for Netflix reasons. In any event, even with encryption disabled, the speeds fall well short of what my native internet speed is, which is not much to begin with. I have seen tests and reviews on various sites showing speeds around 100Mbps from VPN services, so I know that expecting 50Mbps from a decent VPN service, which is never heavily discounted, is quite reasonable.
Deal Expert
User avatar
Feb 24, 2003
22154 posts
10318 upvotes
Toronto
I have PIA and Windscribe with a Rogers 500 Mbps connections. Without either VPN running, I can hit 500 Mbps using Speedtest.net. With the PIA or Windscribe app running on my Win7 desktop, speeds drop from 45% to 60% depending on the server and time of day. I have never been able to get close to 500 with any VPN I have tried.
Deal Expert
Aug 22, 2006
31271 posts
17295 upvotes
If it were me, I'd find a VPS in Chicago and roll my own.
Or with a touch more latency, OVH.
It's not as cheap, but you'll be the only one on it.

I might test this out next:
https://github.com/StreisandEffect/streisand
badshah2K wrote: VPN on my Netgear R8000 router
VPN on a router that isn't a full blown computer is almost always going to suck.
Consumer routers just aren't fast enough to actually do VPN with any sort of meaningful speed.
Do you not have anything else to do rather than argue with strangers on the internet
Nope. That's why I'm on the internet arguing with strangers. If I had anything better to do I'd probably be doing it.
Deal Addict
Sep 13, 2011
1893 posts
1584 upvotes
Québec
badshah2K wrote: Thanks for the suggestion.
I had not conducted any tests with encryption disabled or lowered. Since I was already running the lowest level of encryption options (128 bit), I disabled both encryption and data authentication for this round of testing. Speeds did improve. Canadian servers got more significant boost. The download speed approached 40Mbps when connected to Montreal server. US servers improved as well, but not as much. The best speed was from Chicago server, which topped out at ~35Mbps.

I can run with encryption disabled, but then whats the point of a VPN, right? And I need to connect to US servers for Netflix reasons. In any event, even with encryption disabled, the speeds fall well short of what my native internet speed is, which is not much to begin with. I have seen tests and reviews on various sites showing speeds around 100Mbps from VPN services, so I know that expecting 50Mbps from a decent VPN service, which is never heavily discounted, is quite reasonable.
With encryption disabled, you still have a proxy connection to a usa server, and you will appear as an american for streaming. That'S what I do.
Newbie
Oct 20, 2017
15 posts
84 upvotes
Winnipeg
audit13 wrote: With the PIA or Windscribe app running on my Win7 desktop, speeds drop from 45% to 60% depending on the server and time of day.
With even 45% to 60% speed drop, you are still getting at least 200Mbps download speed (this is based on your 500Mbps connection). That is waaay higher than what I am seeing, which is 20-35Mbps depending factors. I am trying to understand why do I get such slow speeds in Winnipeg using PIA.
Deal Expert
User avatar
Feb 24, 2003
22154 posts
10318 upvotes
Toronto
badshah2K wrote: With even 45% to 60% speed drop, you are still getting at least 200Mbps download speed (this is based on your 500Mbps connection). That is waaay higher than what I am seeing, which is 20-35Mbps depending factors. I am trying to understand why do I get such slow speeds in Winnipeg using PIA.
When I had Bell Fibe 25 Mbps service, I would get around 10. I think VPN speeds are dependent on a person's non-VPN speed based on my experience.
Newbie
Oct 20, 2017
15 posts
84 upvotes
Winnipeg
vkizzle wrote: Try windscribe (free full license for trial).
Wow! So I tried Windscribe VPN. Got a free account, and ran it with Windows 10 app. I was getting 40-45Mbps download speed right away. I couldn't find any settings to lower or disable encryption. I am sure that if encryption layer could be removed from equation, I would be getting close to, or equal to, my full speed of 50Mbps. I am very happy with these results, and will look at subscribing to Windscribe in a few weeks' time when my PIA subscription runs out.
Deal Expert
Aug 22, 2011
41788 posts
30051 upvotes
Center of Universe
badshah2K wrote: Wow! So I tried Windscribe VPN. Got a free account, and ran it with Windows 10 app. I was getting 40-45Mbps download speed right away. I couldn't find any settings to lower or disable encryption. I am sure that if encryption layer could be removed from equation, I would be getting close to, or equal to, my full speed of 50Mbps. I am very happy with these results, and will look at subscribing to Windscribe in a few weeks' time when my PIA subscription runs out.
Make sure you try all the different servers, as some will be much slower than others.
Check out stacksocial from time to time, as they have better deals for the license.
Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Mar 31, 2017
7057 posts
3368 upvotes
Have you tried using the American servers? You're not close to Canadian servers, but might be closer to American ones. I would give Windscribe a 24 hour try in your case.

If you have Kaspersky antivirus try uninstalling that before testing. Kaspersky is well known for slowing down VPNs.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Dec 20, 2005
1108 posts
82 upvotes
Is PIA vpn still good?

Looking for VPN deals, since my vpn is coming up for renewal
Deal Addict
Oct 1, 2006
3249 posts
4472 upvotes
Montreal
I have a 50 Mbps internet connection and use PIA (Montreal or Toronto server) and hit 50 Mbps pretty much all the time.

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