Faster software VPN?

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MinPins

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 30, 2007
Messages
368
I travel to China (Beijing and Shanghai) often for work and I utilize VPN software on my laptop while I am there to maintain access to the various sites that the Chinese government blocks. Up until yesterday I had been using PureVPN but cancelled my account with them after growing weary of their poor customer service (long story...).

Today I decided to give ExpressVPN a try after reading a bunch of favorable reviews. It was easy to set up, then I decided to run some speed tests using my Windows 7 Pro 64bit i7 desktop on my home network.

First I used the program itself to determine which of their servers was fastest:
expressvpn-1_resize_zpsd5333947.jpg


Next I ran several tests using speedtest.net and saw averages of about 60 Mbps up and 12Mbps down.

Then I logged onto ExpressVPN (the Dallas server) and ran several more tests using the same speedtest server as the first test and got averages of about 4Mbps up and ~4Mbps down.

I ran the tests above several times, the only change was logging on and off ExpressVPN. The results for each test were about the same.

I was expecting a drop in throughput, but not one quite that big. Do you think this is a reasonable drop in speed for this software VPN or do you think I could find something faster while still maintaining security?

Thanks for your help.
 
Speedtests do not work well with VPN's. They can dramatically cause the results to fluctuate and flat out be wrong/unrealistic.

If you really want to check the speed of a given service/server you need to download a 100MB test file from a provider and monitor the rate that way. The one closest to your actual download/upload speed is probably going to be the best. Services from VPN providers and individual servers within that providers scope can vary drastically at any given time of the day depending on users also using it.
 
Strong VPN was frequently recommended.
If you want faster look at HK based VPN.
If you are in China a HK server will be faster than a US server.
 
silk186 said:
Strong VPN was frequently recommended.
If you want faster look at HK based VPN.
If you are in China a HK server will be faster than a US server.
Click to expand...

He wanting to bypass china firewall. Wouldnt he still hit the cirewall if he choose avpn in china???
 
I'm in Shanghai now.
ExpressVPN is working fine, just not super-fast. I can watch videos, some take a bit of time to load, but I am used to very fast internet service at my home in CO.
ExpressVPN does enable viewing FB, YouTube, etc which are normally blocked here.
So far so good, using a server in HK.
 
1337m0dd3r said:
Isn't the fact that they block free access to all sites a crime? :confused:
Click to expand...

Not in China it isn't. Law of the land, and non-Chinese laws do not apply in *China*.

Go ahead, protest with VPN, but if they catch you, good luck to you.
 
schizrade said:
Not in China it isn't. Law of the land, and non-Chinese laws do not apply in *China*.

Go ahead, protest with VPN, but if they catch you, good luck to you.
Click to expand...

where is your spirit of the internet? what are you a communist??? I mean the thought that you agree with that is sickening.... must be a communist...
 
1337m0dd3r said:
where is your spirit of the internet? what are you a communist??? I mean the thought that you agree with that is sickening.... must be a communist...
Click to expand...

Ok, right. You must not be good at reading words. Let's rephrase:

See how your naïve "spirit of the internet" meshes with Communist Chinese law. Go ahead, we'll wait.
 
i'm just saying... i mean depending on how long i was going to be in china....

like just a week or two? i can do without internet for that long...

if you're going for work or something and you need to get something done.... or are going for a long period of time... that's another thing...

i mean i doubt they really enforce that, but the last thing i'd want is to get in with the law in a communist country...
 
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