Downloading at max speed is killing my upload

[dschubba 0]

Hello,

 

ADSL usually (always ?) favours download stream to the upload. But with AirVPN things are getting even worse.

 

My ADSL line synchronizes (ISP) @ 1,4 MB/s down / 130 KB/s up

 

- Using my whole download bandwidth (1,4 MB/s) without VPN gives me 45 KB/s up 

 

- Using my whole download bandwidth (1,3 MB/s) with AirVPN gives 8 KB/s up  (almost 6 times less !!!)

 

This is very annoying when you're torrenting and you need to respect certain ratio.

 

I've installed the 9.9 TAP drivers 'cause they behave better on my machine. I've tried the 9.21.2 but I still get 6 times less upload speed while downloading at max speed.

 

AirVPN settings :

 

- Protocol "Automatic"

- Send buffer 64K

- Receive buffer 128K

- mssfix 1332

 

I've tried different buffer settings, with or without mssfix but it didn't change anything.

 

Do you know how I could achieve better upload speed with AirVPN ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheDieselBoiler 5]

Try limiting the download speed and see if your upload speed increases. If this is the case the problem is more likley to be with your ISP rather than Air.

[dschubba 0]

Yes, limiting my download speed makes the upload speed goes higher (ADSL). But in my previous message I was explaining that for the same download speed upload is 6 times higher without AirVPN. Here's the issue.

[Guest]

Humor me, on the machine you are running the VPN on, what CPU does it have and what is its per core speed?

[go558a83nk 362]

Hello,

 

ADSL usually (always ?) favours download stream to the upload. But with AirVPN things are getting even worse.

 

My ADSL line synchronizes (ISP) @ 1,4 MB/s down / 130 KB/s up

 

- Using my whole download bandwidth (1,4 MB/s) without VPN gives me 45 KB/s up 

 

- Using my whole download bandwidth (1,3 MB/s) with AirVPN gives 8 KB/s up  (almost 6 times less !!!)

 

This is very annoying when you're torrenting and you need to respect certain ratio.

 

I've installed the 9.9 TAP drivers 'cause they behave better on my machine. I've tried the 9.21.2 but I still get 6 times less upload speed while downloading at max speed.

 

AirVPN settings :

 

- Protocol "Automatic"

- Send buffer 64K

- Receive buffer 128K

- mssfix 1332

 

I've tried different buffer settings, with or without mssfix but it didn't change anything.

 

Do you know how I could achieve better upload speed with AirVPN ?

 

try different protocols and ports.  it's certainly not a theoretical or technological barrier with openvpn or AirVPN that's causing this

[dschubba 0]

@EdensSprire : AirVPN is running on an Intel i5 4670K @3.4GHz (4-cores)

 

@go558a : I've tried every protocols, on different servers in different locations

 

AirVPN is using my whole upload bandwidth (for encryption purpose ?) and only few Bytes remain free for torrenting. 

 

Look at the picture below : 

 

- utorrent was the only software connected to the internet through AirVPN

- utorrent is using 3.6 kB/s upload bandwidth and 1613.07 kB/s download

- my network interface shows that it generates in fact a 106.12 kB/s upload burden

 

 

 

At full download speed my whole upload bandwidth is being eaten by unknown data generated by AirVPN. And it also occurs outside utorrent (website downloads, streaming...). This is very annoying.

[zhang888 1066]

Remove your mssfix directive and use UDP to connect.

[dschubba 0]

Thank you zhang888 for the helping hand. I've followed your advice (no custom directive + UDP 443) but unfortunately it didn't change anything.

 

[zhang888 1066]

You must have a background process then that uses your bandwidth. Try to boot another live CD (if possible) and

check with UDP and nothing custom.

[dschubba 0]

I've just installed AirVPN on my laptop (first install, clean system). Didn't change any default settings + UDP protocol. Same results.

 

While watching Youtube video (downloading video data @ 1,4 MB/s)

---> without AirVPN : upload bandwidth shows a 10 to 20 kB/s activity

---> with AirVPN : upload bandwidth shows a 100+ kB/s activity

[pr1v 36]

Maybe it's related to your router in some way...

[dschubba 0]

Yes, maybe. But I still wonder why it's happening only with AirVPN.

 

BTW on which interface should I monitor bandwidth usage ? The physical one, the virtual one (TAP) or both (adding physical and virtual bandwidth) ? I'm asking this because on the physical one upload bandwidth usage is like twice as high as on TAP V9. Is there any reason why they both show different values ?

 

(Windows 7 64bit)

[Staff 9973]

Yes, maybe. But I still wonder why it's happening only with AirVPN.

 

 

UDP to port 443 can be a factor to consider. You would be surprised to see how many bugged routers can't handle high UDP flows and many routers are still sold with archaic firmwares. Some of them even crash with UDP. Make sure that the router firmware is up to date.

 

Other options to consider are any QoS tool in your router or system, or any third-party network manager in Windows.

 

Finally, you can't rule out some ISP "traffic management" which penalizes UDP upstream, downstream or both when some pattern is detected.

 

EDIT:

 

I've installed the 9.9 TAP drivers 'cause they behave better on my machine. I've tried the 9.21.2 but I still get 6 times less upload speed while downloading at max speed.

 

 

This is an issue we have seen not so rarely in Windows 8 and Windows 10 when a 9.21.x tun/tap driver is used in a system with an outdated driver of the physical network interface. So, on top of all the above, please make sure that your network card driver is up to date. Worth a check.

 

Kind regards

[dschubba 0]

My modem / router is the one from my ISP. It is based on the Broadcom BCM63268 chipset. I don't have access to any advanced settings like QoS.

My physical network interface uses the latest Intel drivers.

 

Could you tell me which interface should I monitor : the Intel Ethernet (physical) or the TAP-Windows Adapter v9 (virtual) ? As I told your earlier each one provides different upload data.

 

BTW on which interface should I monitor bandwidth usage ? The physical one, the virtual one (TAP) or both (adding physical and virtual bandwidth) ?

[Staff 9973]

My modem / router is the one from my ISP. It is based on the Broadcom BCM63268 chipset. I don't have access to any advanced settings like QoS.

My physical network interface uses the latest Intel drivers.

 

 

Hello,

 

unfortunately, when not even your local network devices are under your full control, troubleshooting becomes much harder. We could assume that this router you cite has no active QoS tools, but it's safer that you get informed.

 

Could you tell me which interface should I monitor : the Intel Ethernet (physical) or the TAP-Windows Adapter v9 (virtual) ? As I told your earlier each one provides different upload data.

 

Both. The tun/tap adapter is the virtual network interface used by OpenVPN and is driven by the tun/tap driver. You should have version 9.21.2 if you run Eddie 2.11.x beta, check on the Eddie logs. The driver for your physical interface can kept up to date with the Windows tools or the manufacturer's ones.

 

Side note: of course, you need to consider that each routable packet that passes through the virtual interface also passes through the physical interface (although it's encrypted in the physical interface). Therefore if you monitor the total traffic and bandwidth in the system by adding up traffic and bandwidth of both interfaces, generally you will get approximately the double traffic and bandwidth that physically is handled by the physical network  interface.

 

Kind regards