Speeds behind VPN are incredibly slow on Android

VPN
1

I just got gig internet so I’ve been testing all of my devices. When I have PIA disabled on my Pixel 2 XL, I get ~500Mbps, which is fine considering it’s a phone on wifi. When I enable PIA, however, I can’t get above 10Mbps. I’ve tried a lot of endpoints, nothing changed. I’m really not sure what’s going on. I’m using the PIA app.

2

Run the speed tests on this page to a bunch of different locations and find out which one is fastest for you.

3

/u/icefall5, have you tried changing ports within the application? I’d recommend opening the app’s settings and running through the different Remote port options, testing speeds on each one. Then, try toggling the Use TCP option on, and testing the new set of remote ports you see available.

It’s possible that some port/protocol combinations will allow significantly higher speeds than the port used automatically.

4

Are you on data or wifi? What’s your max speed that you’re paying for on wifi? What’s the maximum speed for LTE?

5

I disabled the VPN on my phone and ran the tests, the best speed I got was ~190Mbps with a 200ms ping. Setting my endpoint to that location still didn’t fix the problem–I can only barely get above 10Mbps as measured by Speedtest.net’s app.

6

Sorry for the really late reply, I’ve just had the VPN turned off all week on my phone and completely forgot.

I just did a test with the VPN off, my speed was around 200Mbps. I then turned the VPN on and tried each UDP port setting, never got faster than 20Mbps. I tried all of the TCP options and I was able to get to 25Mbps, but that’s all. I did restart the connecting after every change.

I ran all of the tests against US Atlanta, which I get 170Mbps to according to the speed test on the website.

7

I’m on wifi, I’m paying for 1 gig. Without the VPN I get ~200Mbps (depends on when I test).

8

Try a different server. Chicago is what Auto chooses for me, but I do Denver and the speed is 3x faster

9

Which servers are you using? Are you located in California? Are you in Texas?

Go to /pages/network on PIA’s website and test the fasted speeds, connect to those and use speedtest.net and compare

10

I’ve tried every server in the US and Canada with the same results. I’m near Detroit, there’s no point checking countries other than those.

11

The other commenter already had me do that.

12

Did it used to work better before?
If you try on a wired PC is the speed better?

13

I don’t know if it has ever worked, I had much slower speeds at my previous place. Sorry :confused: