For those wondering about speed performance...

[shiro21 4]

Currently downloading using SFTP from seedbox through AirVPN's Sirius server on UDP port 443.

The picture doesn't show it but I peaked out 7.7 MB/s down, 3.7 MB/s up. That's 61.6 Mbits/s down, 29.6 Mbits/s up.

Admittedly, this is rare. But interesting because there are about 130 users on Sirius.

DISCLAIMER: Results not guaranteed for all users. Various factors such as user's bandwidth, computer, distance from servers, remote servers, and whether you are just plain awesome determines your performance.

[n8OTefCO 0]

Hello,

I have been a subscriber for about 4 days. I ran a speed test without the VPN and with the 9 VPN servers.

Results are shown below. The speed test URL was speedtest.net

The VPN download speeds are around a 90% reduction from the normal (without) VPN speed. Is there any way to increase the VPN download speeds?

Thanks

D/L U/L

-------------

Without VPN 22.52 / 4.21

Castor --- Netherlands 2.71 / 1.35

Delphini - United Kingdom 2.61 / 1.51

Draconis - Sweden 1.78 / 2.31

Leonis --- Netherlands 1.86 / 0.73

Lyra ----- Netherlands 1.90 / 2.94

Omicron -- Germany 1.21 / 1.30

Orionis -- Netherlands 2.67 / 2.89

Sirius --- United States 1.54 / 1.87

Vega ----- United States 3.11 / 3.27

[Staff 9973]

Hello!

As you can see, speeds vary enormously according to different tests from different ISPs. On our side, we make sure to always provide a guaranteed allocated bandwidth: no overselling at all. Furthermore, our servers are located in datacenters directly connected to tier1 providers (except Vega). Finally, we pick hardware for our servers so that the average load on CPU and I/O never affects ability to provide full dedicated port bandwidth on each server. Technically, there's really nothing more we can do to provide better performance.

If your ISP is connected to tier3 providers (or worse) only, even with redundancy, the problem is from your ISP.

That said, there may be very many different reasons which cause an anomalous speed decrease: your ISP might cap ports (in this case, test ports 80 TCP, 53 TCP and 53 UDP, which are less likely to be capped); your router or hardware might slow down the traffic due to encryption (we provide one of the strongest encryption available in OpenVPN, AES-256-CBC, which may cause slowdowns on old hardware and old DD-WRT routers). Further explanations are given in the FAQ.

Finally, one-time tests performed with speedtest.net might mean absolutely nothing.

Kind regards

[n8OTefCO 0]

Thanks for the port tips admin.

My ISP is Comcast. Any idea about what they block or throttle?

[shiro21 4]

Comcast does not throttle or block any of the ports used by AirVPN. They don't do any throttling or traffic shaping after the backlash of being exposed to secret throttling of Bittorrent and VoIP in the past.

Like Admin said, there a lots of reasons as to why your speeds appear so low. I will confirm that speed tests means nothing when it comes to benchmarking VPN connections. The same connection I posted that produced 61.6 Mbits down, 29.6 Mbits up between Sirius and a server in the Netherlands, consistently show as a paltry 12-20 Mbits down and 1-14 Mbits up between Sirius and the nearest Virginia test servers despite being much closer. To really get an accurate idea of speed, you'll want to stream and download various files from remote servers that you know are too fast to be the bottleneck. Again, I tested this by transferring files to and from a gigabit connected server in the Netherlands.

To ensure you have the best connection possible, use VPN servers that are closest to you. For you, that would mean the US servers of Sirius and Vega. (However, if you are planning on running a Bittorrent client, I recommend using a server in the Netherlands. Slower speeds but you avoid risks of getting AirVPN blasted with DCMA notices for US servers. Ideally, get a seedbox) Also, connect to AirVPN servers using UDP on whatever port you want.

[AxXxXo 0]

Full speed at every EU server

[shiro21 4]

Thanks for the info on your experience with EU servers.

I encourage others to post their experience in terms of VPN performance. Are you experiencing good file transfer speeds? How are your VoIP calls? Are you happy with video conferencing performance? Anyone crazy enough to try online gaming?!

This is to let other users and prospective users know how viable VPN can be for different uses.

[Globespy 1]

I have a 30MB connection with Time Warner Cable in the US.

I have a fairly new router - Netgear WNDR3700

I used to get an average of 2MB/s speed on another VPN service (HMA - no longer using since I found out they log everything and keep detailed records for authorities to easily get), however I can't get more than an average of 400KB/s since moving to AirVPN.

I've tried most of the servers, and it doesn't make much difference whether I choose a US one (Vega is linked to Hong Kong, I understand it's already known about, but why not open a new server??), or EU server. Speeds are the same, slow.

I have no idea what I'm supposed to do about changing ports? Where do I do that? In the router setup? In Comodo firewall setup?

It would be useful to have a guided walkthrough on the FAQ as this is likely a common issue - all I've seen is "test/change your ports" but no walkthrough, which is like telling me nothing.

Thanks

[AxXxXo 0]

Thanks for the info on your experience with EU servers.

I encourage others to post their experience in terms of VPN performance. Are you experiencing good file transfer speeds? How are your VoIP calls? Are you happy with video conferencing performance? Anyone crazy enough to try online gaming?!

This is to let other users and prospective users know how viable VPN can be for different uses.

Well i have 4/256 but still it is quality net with always full speed and great routing...well im online gamer so i normally i was wondering what is my ping with vpn but i wasn't happy because it doubles my ping on some server or i it is +10 on Amsterdam server or min was 50...well on file sharing servers is at full without problem but on qbit torrent i had 10 kbs and i guess it is because of ports but i need to try it on win7...watching stream and streaming is great as before...only minus is bigger pings on online games....So far i love your service and it is big A+!

[shiro21 4]

Globespy - How are you determining those speeds? If you are using some sort of speed test, it's actually not very accurate for VPN connection. I'm really not sure why but that is the case. For example, speedtest.net would indicate my speed from 25 Mbits to as low as 1 Mbits yet when I am actually transferring files from a fast server, I'm doing as high as 66 Mbits, which is right in line with my ISP. Granted, I am downloading with multiple connections.

So, try using the Internet as you normally would and then see if you notice any actually low speeds.

As for Vega being based in Hong Kong, that's not correct. Some servers have funky geolocation databases that gets inaccurate results. If Vega really was based in Hong Kong, you would not be able to access Netflix, Hulu, or network affiliate's websites like abc.com. In actually, I have determined that Vega is based somewhere around New York, while Sirius is in Virginia. Only admin knows the truth.

The reason why there are no step by step guide for optimal VPN performance is because there's just so many factors that determine performance. I wish I can tell you why AirVPN seems to perform much worse than HMA. All I can suggest is use UDP on whatever port you want and gauge the performance on actual Internet usage, not speed tests.

Tell us in general what you generally use the Internet for. Is it web browsing? P2P? Streaming? Web conferencing? And tell about your set up. Maybe then I can help or other users with similar situation can offer tips.

[Globespy 1]

Thanks for the reply.

I am seeing these slow downs particularly with the newsleecher client.

I used to get consistently over 2MB/showthread.php with HMA.

No matter what server or port i select with AirVPN, I get max 500KB/s, but averaging 350-400KB/s max.

Setup mentioned below :

30MB cable connection (time warner)

Win 7

Netgear WNDR3700

And the vega server shows location as hong Kong, the sirius server as south of england.

Vega defaults to Google hong Kong site.

[vcn64ultra 3]

According to speedtest.net, Vega is located in Oregon. According to google.com, Vega is located in Hong Kong.

My initial tries with Sirius got located to somewhere in New England, maybe New York area, I forget. Now it keeps taking me to south of England. England is definitely wrong because I get faster speeds if I select a speedtest server in New York instead.

The location detection for those sites are just inconsistent... It's a shame google happens to be wrong for Vega.

Anyway, I have the Time Warner 15mbit/s package in southern California and got a peak down speed of about 13mbit/s on Vega using speedtest.net. just FYI lol.

[shiro21 4]

I'm not familiar with the newsleecher client. My last experiment with USENET was disappointing. I couldn't find anything but spam!

Anyways, could you tell us how you configured your client? Again, I don't know why AirVPN appears to be slower. But if it really is slower, maybe you can work around that limitation by increasing number of connections. That's how I saturated my bandwidth when using FTP.

Also, what about your firewall? Anything there that might inhibit connections?

vcn64ultra - It's good that speedtest seems to be accurate for you. In my experience as well as others, speedtests never seem to be consistent or accurate.

[jmann9000 0]

I'm not familiar with the newsleecher client. My last experiment with USENET was disappointing. I couldn't find anything but spam!

.

If all you got was spam, it's because you don't know where to find the best NZB groups. If you want an easy to use newsreader that also gives you built in NZB groups and uses Astraweb servers, try Bintube DOT com. AirVPN will not slow your downloading on USENET. Since they keep no logs and have built in SSL, you probably don't need to use a VPN when downloading from USENET. USENET is much faster than torrents or cyberlockers.

[Globespy 1]

If you decided to not use a VPN, and then your ISP would have lots of interesting data on things you were accessing on usenet. And your ISP will always be the first port of call for any organizations looking for people to make examples of.

[Globespy 1]

According to speedtest.net, Vega is located in Oregon. According to google.com, Vega is located in Hong Kong.

My initial tries with Sirius got located to somewhere in New England, maybe New York area, I forget. Now it keeps taking me to south of England. England is definitely wrong because I get faster speeds if I select a speedtest server in New York instead.

The location detection for those sites are just inconsistent... It's a shame google happens to be wrong for Vega.

Anyway, I have the Time Warner 15mbit/s package in southern California and got a peak down speed of about 13mbit/s on Vega using speedtest.net. just FYI lol.

Mind telling me your setup details, provided since we both live in the same place and use the same Provider? I doubt it's my router that's the bottleneck, it's pretty new (WNDR3700). I'm using Win 7 64-bit, and Comoros Firewall.

Thanks for any info you can provide to help me replicate your setup.

[vcn64ultra 3]

According to speedtest.net, Vega is located in Oregon. According to google.com, Vega is located in Hong Kong.

My initial tries with Sirius got located to somewhere in New England, maybe New York area, I forget. Now it keeps taking me to south of England. England is definitely wrong because I get faster speeds if I select a speedtest server in New York instead.

The location detection for those sites are just inconsistent... It's a shame google happens to be wrong for Vega.

Anyway, I have the Time Warner 15mbit/s package in southern California and got a peak down speed of about 13mbit/s on Vega using speedtest.net. just FYI lol.

Mind telling me your setup details, provided since we both live in the same place and use the same Provider? I doubt it's my router that's the bottleneck, it's pretty new (WNDR3700). I'm using Win 7 64-bit, and Comoros Firewall.

Thanks for any info you can provide to help me replicate your setup.

My setup is:

Cable modem --> ASUS RT-N12 with DD-WRT rev 18024 OpenVPN build --> gigabit switch --> Win 7 64-bit desktop (Core i7) --> VMWare of Windows XP 32-bit (my downloader VM) --> OpenVPN 2.2.1

Vega, port 443, UDP

I do not use the AirVPN client. Back when I was using TCP, my top speed was approximately 8mbit/s, so UDP helped.

I also tried using the DD-WRT router to connect to AirVPN with the same settings and it maxes out at about 6mbit/s. According to here:

http://strongvpn.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=950

6mbit/s is exactly what I should be expecting from a router running DD-WRT. Too slow unfortunately.

FWIW, I've also VPNed to AirVPN at work on my laptop (Win 7 64-bit, Core i7) where work has symmetrical 5mbit/s down/up and I got this:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1892863704.png

Oh and no firewall other than the Windows firewall.

[Globespy 1]

According to speedtest.net, Vega is located in Oregon. According to google.com, Vega is located in Hong Kong.

My initial tries with Sirius got located to somewhere in New England, maybe New York area, I forget. Now it keeps taking me to south of England. England is definitely wrong because I get faster speeds if I select a speedtest server in New York instead.

The location detection for those sites are just inconsistent... It's a shame google happens to be wrong for Vega.

Anyway, I have the Time Warner 15mbit/s package in southern California and got a peak down speed of about 13mbit/s on Vega using speedtest.net. just FYI lol.

Mind telling me your setup details, provided since we both live in the same place and use the same Provider? I doubt it's my router that's the bottleneck, it's pretty new (WNDR3700). I'm using Win 7 64-bit, and Comoros Firewall.

Thanks for any info you can provide to help me replicate your setup.

My setup is:

Cable modem --> ASUS RT-N12 with DD-WRT rev 18024 OpenVPN build --> gigabit switch --> Win 7 64-bit desktop (Core i7) --> VMWare of Windows XP 32-bit (my downloader VM) --> OpenVPN 2.2.1

Vega, port 443, UDP

I do not use the AirVPN client. Back when I was using TCP, my top speed was approximately 8mbit/s, so UDP helped.

I also tried using the DD-WRT router to connect to AirVPN with the same settings and it maxes out at about 6mbit/s. According to here:

http://strongvpn.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=950

6mbit/s is exactly what I should be expecting from a router running DD-WRT. Too slow unfortunately.

FWIW, I've also VPNed to AirVPN at work on my laptop (Win 7 64-bit, Core i7) where work has symmetrical 5mbit/s down/up and I got this:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1892863704.png

Oh and no firewall other than the Windows firewall.

We are very similar (core i7).

I haven't figured out how to use AirVPN without the Client? Do you use openVPN to Connect? I can't understand how to get this to work.

DO you think the list could be the culprit for the Slowdown?

Tell me more about the VM machine you Use? What is the advantage of That?

Thanks for your help.... Crazy Rain here in LA Today!

[vcn64ultra 3]

We are very similar (core i7).

I haven't figured out how to use AirVPN without the Client? Do you use openVPN to Connect? I can't understand how to get this to work.

DO you think the list could be the culprit for the Slowdown?

Tell me more about the VM machine you Use? What is the advantage of That?

Thanks for your help.... Crazy Rain here in LA Today!

Yes I use OpenVPN (openvpn-2.2.2-install.exe) downloaded from http://openvpn.net/index.php/download.html

I find that I have to make sure OpenVPN GUI is run as Administrator in Win 7 64-bit or else OpenVPN is unable to set whatever routes it needs to set on the system.

You just copy the 4 files from the zip you get from https://airvpn.org/direct_access/ into the OpenVPN config folder, typically located:

C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenVPN\config

Then run the GUI and tell it to connect.

List?

The VM is used ideally as a sandbox, for if a download is really a virus, at least it infects just my downloading VM rather than my actual system OS. You don't need it, and I highly doubt it would be the solution to your problem.

[Globespy 1]

We are very similar (core i7).

I haven't figured out how to use AirVPN without the Client? Do you use openVPN to Connect? I can't understand how to get this to work.

DO you think the list could be the culprit for the Slowdown?

Tell me more about the VM machine you Use? What is the advantage of That?

Thanks for your help.... Crazy Rain here in LA Today!

Yes I use OpenVPN (openvpn-2.2.2-install.exe) downloaded from http://openvpn.net/index.php/download.html

I find that I have to make sure OpenVPN GUI is run as Administrator in Win 7 64-bit or else OpenVPN is unable to set whatever routes it needs to set on the system.

You just copy the 4 files from the zip you get from https://airvpn.org/direct_access/ into the OpenVPN config folder, typically located:

C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenVPN\config

Then run the GUI and tell it to connect.

List?

The VM is used ideally as a sandbox, for if a download is really a virus, at least it infects just my downloading VM rather than my actual system OS. You don't need it, and I highly doubt it would be the solution to your problem.

I followed your instructions for the OpenVPN GUI, and it connected (although there were various errors in the log status) and was showing in green color.

HOWEVER, when I went to check my IP address, it was clear that I was not connected to the AirVPN and was using my normal public IP. Why was this?

Also, could not see anywhere in OpenVPN GUI to change ports etc?

[Staff 9973]

I followed your instructions for the OpenVPN GUI, and it connected (although there were various errors in the log status) and was showing in green color.

HOWEVER, when I went to check my IP address, it was clear that I was not connected to the AirVPN and was using my normal public IP. Why was this?

Also, could not see anywhere in OpenVPN GUI to change ports etc?

Hello!

Our configuration generator lets you pick the port you wish to use for the connection and generate the appropriate configuration file. Otherwise, you can simply edit with any text editor the air.ovpn file. Locate the lines "remote" and "proto" and change them accordingly. For example, if you wish to connect to port 80 TCP, use the directives:

proto tcp
remote <entry-IP> 80

Also, can you please publish the connection logs? They may be very helpful for troubleshooting.

Kind regards

[vcn64ultra 3]

We are very similar (core i7).

I haven't figured out how to use AirVPN without the Client? Do you use openVPN to Connect? I can't understand how to get this to work.

DO you think the list could be the culprit for the Slowdown?

Tell me more about the VM machine you Use? What is the advantage of That?

Thanks for your help.... Crazy Rain here in LA Today!

Yes I use OpenVPN (openvpn-2.2.2-install.exe) downloaded from http://openvpn.net/index.php/download.html

I find that I have to make sure OpenVPN GUI is run as Administrator in Win 7 64-bit or else OpenVPN is unable to set whatever routes it needs to set on the system.

You just copy the 4 files from the zip you get from https://airvpn.org/direct_access/ into the OpenVPN config folder, typically located:

C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenVPN\config

Then run the GUI and tell it to connect.

List?

The VM is used ideally as a sandbox, for if a download is really a virus, at least it infects just my downloading VM rather than my actual system OS. You don't need it, and I highly doubt it would be the solution to your problem.

I followed your instructions for the OpenVPN GUI, and it connected (although there were various errors in the log status) and was showing in green color.

HOWEVER, when I went to check my IP address, it was clear that I was not connected to the AirVPN and was using my normal public IP. Why was this?

Also, could not see anywhere in OpenVPN GUI to change ports etc?

The port is chosen on the page before you download the zip: https://airvpn.org/direct_access/

What are the various errors you saw in the log status?

[jctusmc03 0]

Like the title says, I'm getting slow speeds on airvpn. My max torrent speed's top out around 2-3mb/s download and for upload it's 1.5mb/s usually. I always use Sirius and Vega to connect to the internet. Is there something I can do to either my computer's settings, or the actual airvpn client's settings to get better speed out of this?

[jctusmc03 0]

My account has not been getting the advertised "minimum" speeds (4mb's) for some reason since I started using AirVPN some 3+ months ago. My downloads/uploads never get that high, so I'm looking to try and optimize my settings to see if I can get better speeds.

I've read around a little bit and one of the fixes I've seen is to change my connection port in case my ISP is throttling me. However, I'm not sure how to go about that, and what the recommended ports to try using as alternative ports are. Could someone walk me through optimizing my settings both on my computer, and on my AirVPN client?

I'm about ready to just abandon this service if I cannot get better speeds, it's not worth the money for my usual 1.5mb/s download/1mb/s upload through this client. Hopefully someone can help!? I'm based in the U.S., I'm running Windows 7 64, I have a pretty awesome computer, and I'm on a 16/4mb connection.Thanks!

[Staff 9973]

My account has not been getting the advertised "minimum" speeds (4mb's) for some reason since I started using AirVPN some 3+ months ago. My downloads/uploads never get that high, so I'm looking to try and optimize my settings to see if I can get better speeds.

Hello!

We don't advertise minimum speed. Nobody in the world can do that on the Internet. We advertise, and we guarantee, a minimum allocated bandwidth. We have moved your message to this thread so that you can find more info.

I've read around a little bit and one of the fixes I've seen is to change my connection port in case my ISP is throttling me. However, I'm not sure how to go about that, and what the recommended ports to try using as alternative ports are. Could someone walk me through optimizing my settings both on my computer, and on my AirVPN client?

Try port 80 TCP, usually it is not capped by providers. In order to select it in the Air client, first select a server, then click on the "Modes" tab, pick the port and click "Enter".

Kind regards