AirVPN Reduces Internet Speed to 10% of Total Bandwidth

[pfolk 6]

Hi guys,

 

running latest Eddie Client on a Win 10 x64 machine on an 400 Mbit connection.

 

Without VPN, we get very nice bandwidth, as can be seen in this speedtest here:

 

 

 

Using AirVPN with default settings, we get about 30-40 Mbit. That is less than 10% of the total bandwidth of the connection.

 

 

I've followed one of the optimization guides posted here on the forum and done these steps, trying to increase the VPN throughput:

 

(1) in Eddie client preferences, changed Protocol to TCP or SSL - this actually helped and we're now at 50-60 Mbit - but still way off.

 

(2) in Eddie client preferences, increased buffer size to 512 KB/s for both TCP/UDP settings. No improvement.

 

(3) in Eddie client preferences, applied mssfix. No improvement.

 

(4) used SG TCP Optimizer tool - checked "Optimal" option and then applied new settings. No improvement.

 

(5) Tried TAP adaper 9.9.2_3 as well as latest 9.21.2. See speedtest results here:

 

using TAP 9.9.2_3

 

using TAP 9.21.2

 

No improvement.

 

(6) Also tried the TAP adapter fix, setting "Media Status" to "always connected". No improvement. Actually with this setting, AirVPN fails to connect to server.

 

 

As you can probably agree, 60 Mbit throughput for a 400+ Mbit connection is quite bad.

 

 

What else should we change and/or configure in order to get better AirVPN throughput ?

 

Thank you.

 

- Pete

 

P.S: All speedtest stats above were also confirmed with real file downloads. Same results.

 

 

[flat4 79]

anytime you use a VPN your internet speed will be slowed. Search thru the forums some folks have be able to push the limits of vpn.

[pfolk 6]

Hi flat,

 

I understand it will be slower. 10% of the actual bandwidth is just drastically slower. Quite a few peeps on here stated that they can get much more out of their connection.

 

Naturally I have searched the forums, hence all the optimization steps that I performed that I posted...

 

 

Do you have any specific suggestions on what else to configure ?

 

Thanks.

[corrado 100]

You are right, the bandwidth you are getting is rather low. However, this could have many reasons. Once, I had an ISP that seemed to throttle OpenVPN connections below barely usable levels. OpenVPN over SSL helped, but this naturally  had a much larger speed hit than pure OpenVPN. I also found that some Powerlan and Wlan connections can be problematic, so try ethernet if you don't already. For troubleshooting purposes I would also advise to try using OpenVPN without Eddie and using AirVPN on a GNU/Linux distribution (no TAP adapter issues there) and see if that improves anything.

[pfolk 6]

connection is wired / ethernet. Will try OpenVPN without Eddie, and see if it improves things.

[flat4 79]

@corrrado beat me to it, i was going to ask what OS you were using and try open vpn.

 

Who is your ISP?

[pfolk 6]

ISP is Spectrum, OS is Win 10 x64

[pfolk 6]

just to follow up on my post, for other users in the same situation:

 

Tested the OpenVPN client on Windows. At best, same speed as the Eddie client, but holes open in the VPN tunnel - not sure how to implement a full network lock via OpenVPN client, but it don't matter since speed did not improve anyways.

 

Then ran extensive tests on 4 different machines (all different hardware specs) and 3 different OS (Win | OSX | Linux).

 

Main factors for connection speed are, in this order: ISP | OS | Hardware specs

 

(1) ISP: was always the same in these tests so can be disregarded

 

But, just to see if the ISP throttles VPN traffic, I ran file downloads on two machines simultaneously, via AirVPN, and combined got about up to 350-360 Mbit max out of a 400-460 Mbit connection. That's decent. If I added a 3rd machine I guess I could have fully saturated the line.

 

(2) OS

 

I ran tests using the 3 OS (from above) on the exact same machine (and I did this test on multiple machines) - so that hardware specs can be disregarded: Linux performs best, then OSX, then Windows. Linux gives 2 - 2.5 times the VPN speed I get on Windows. On the same machine. Same ISP.

 

(3) ran tests using the same OS on different machines (ergo: different hardware specs). Windows was of most interest here. With a dual Xeon beast, I got up to 250 Mbit (out of a 400-460 Mbit connection). This is really disappointing, considering that CPU usage was minimal. I guess the OpenVPN implementation on Windows is just lacking. A lot.

 

 

As stated in the OP, all of these tests were done with optimized VPN settings. Without VPN, all machines on every OS full saturate the line.

[zacbec 0]

Eddie is based on OpenVPN. OpenVPN is old and has a number of inefficiencies. One of the most glaring is the fact that it isn't multithreaded. As such, even on the best hardware, you'll be limited to something like 200-250 Mbps per active connection.

 

CPUs with slower single-core performance or older CPUs missing certain instruction sets can also limit OpenVPN's throughput. What CPU are you using on your test system?

[pfolk 6]

Eddie is based on OpenVPN. OpenVPN is old and has a number of inefficiencies. One of the most glaring is the fact that it isn't multithreaded. As such, even on the best hardware, you'll be limited to something like 200-250 Mbps per active connection.

 

CPUs with slower single-core performance or older CPUs missing certain instruction sets can also limit OpenVPN's throughput. What CPU are you using on your test system?

the machine referenced in my OP is an older machine.

 

The 4 machines used in the extended tests referenced in my last post are from lower spec to very high specs.

 

The most stunning fact (in my tests) is that I was able to double the VPN speed by running the exact same stuff in Linux: same machine, same latest Eddie client.

[go558a83nk 364]

Eddie is based on OpenVPN. OpenVPN is old and has a number of inefficiencies. One of the most glaring is the fact that it isn't multithreaded. As such, even on the best hardware, you'll be limited to something like 200-250 Mbps per active connection.

 

CPUs with slower single-core performance or older CPUs missing certain instruction sets can also limit OpenVPN's throughput. What CPU are you using on your test system?

 

 

I can get 400+ mbit/s with my pfsense machine.  With servers being 1gbps a single user can't expect much more because the server has limits - inbound + outbound = bandwidth limit.

[serenacat 83]

Interesting that Linux twice better than W10.

Could be:

1. Manufacturers pay for better, faster drivers for Linux in datacenters with big loads and performance monitoring, for customers who pay a premium and buy by the dozen. Sort of Audi vs Toyota Camry markets.

2. OS kernel switching is done better on your hardware in Linux for high interrupt and packet/block transfers with the drivers. DMA etc. Other considerations for MS.

3. The supplied binaries from OpenVPN are lowest common denominator for Windows range of hardware, and better optimized by the compiler for Linux with your CPUs.

One advantage for open source is that if motivated, one may be able to tune up the compilation options for target hardware. Can make a big difference with evolution of specialized hardware instructions.

Although one can agree with net neutrality principles, I am uneasy with ISPs offering *unlimited* data on higher and higher bandwidth to lock in a bit more monthly rate. Some parts of the internet must break/congest, including such things as AirVPN which is primarily to maintain privacy and avoid geoblock distribution fragmentation. Some people may leave 4K streaming running all day while at work to keep the goldfish amused.