A Brief Guide on How to Test VPN Speed Properly

When you’re using a VPN, you need it to protect your data, but you shouldn’t compromise on speed either. Every VPN company claims their solution is fast, but what’s the fastest one to suit your needs? How do you test VPN speed?

To start, you should know that testing the speed of a VPN is slightly different from running a speed test online. Read below to learn the difference and to learn how to test VPN speed.

At their root, both regular Internet speed tests and VPN speed tests are the same: Internet speed is tested by sending and receiving data to a server, before measuring upload and download rates and latency. However, when using a VPN, you have to choose the correct servers to get accurate results.

Here’s what happens during a VPN speed test:

• When using a VPN, your actual location may differ from your server’s location.
• Regular speed tests use your current location to determine internet speeds, based on IP address or smartphone and tablet browser data. Using a VPN connected to an overseas server would affect the accuracy of tests like these. This is because most Internet speed testing providers have several ways to determine your actual location. Outside of your IP address, they may also use your smartphone or tablet’s location data from your browser. So, even if you’re connected to an overseas VPN server, the online speed test could see your actual geographical location.
• A regular speed test would not be accurate, because, instead of measuring from the testing server closest to the VPN location, it measures from the VPN server in the cloud and then transmits back to the nearby geographical location, adding latency and not providing the full bandwidth.

So, how to test VPN speed properly?

Since every VPN service uses its own servers, there’s no universal tool to test VPN speed. Instead, you should look at your VPN provider for such functionality. Speedify includes a VPN speed test widget that you can use to test VPN speed and determine how well Speedify performs as a VPN and as a channel bonding solution. Our embedded VPN speed test uses the Speedify VPN servers directly to test the bandwidth and latency of the connection for each adapter (WiFi, cellular, Ethernet, etc.) you’re using, and then for the combined connection of the 2 or more network adapters. Thus, you’ll get the most relevant results and will be able to select the fastest server for your needs, whether it’s live streaming, eSports / online gaming, day trading, VoIP calls or other bandwidth-intensive activities.