ANSWERED Help me understand choosing a server based on continent/country vs. a specific server

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I currently am using Wireguard on both desktop and mobile to connect to a specific server that's closest to me in the US, but am wondering if there are any benefits of using a config that would use an entire continent or country. There are currently 2 servers around me that I normally connect to. Last week, they both went down. This prompted a few questions.

1. Would using a config from an entire country/continent ensure I'm always connected? Example, if I was connected to a server, and it went down, would it connect me to the next best one?
2. Does selecting a country ensure I'm on the best(fastest) server... or at least try to? I tested this early on, and my VPN client connected to a server that was across the country. The speeds were terrible, but not sure if it was an error on my part

My use case is pretty simple. Speed and privacy in that order.

Thank you!

[ss11 22]

Hello,

It depends on your use case. If you don't care about a specific continent/country/server, of course it is okay.

1. The downside when you use a specific server is that you are offline if and when that server is down. Using an entire country for this seams a better approach. It will connect to the least loaded one in that country, or more simply said the one that can give you the best free resources for usage.
2. I'm not sure if best is same to fastest. I think best means the one that has the least load. It would make more sense like this, however I'm not sure I'm not speaking on AirVPN's name just from a fan and user for long time point of view.

Choosing a server across the country SHOULD NOT give you terrible speeds, under any circumstances. You can use servers across continent (not country) and still have reasonable speeds (of course speed is not the same like your internet connection but still shouldn't be terrible). I am using a server far away from my location, like 500ms ping time, very far different continent and while the speed is not lightning speed it is ok for usage, would not call it terrible.

[SurprisedItWorks 52]

I'm not a super expert, but I've been using Wireguard on AirVPN since it became available, so I'll weigh in.  Just so you know, I do not use Eddie.  I mostly use dd-wrt's built-in wireguard capability.  Sometimes I use the official WireGuard app on an iOS or Android device.

1. No.    My experience is that when a server goes down, things simply freeze until you manually restart the connection.  (Perhaps Eddie does better here?)

2. You'll get the "best" server in that country at the time you initiate the wireguard connection.  Air updates its choice of "best" every 5 minutes, but your location does not figure into it, so it may well be across the country.  And once you connect, it's exactly as if you had connected specifically to the chosen server.  If your server becomes slow, you may want to re-start the connection so that you connect to an updated choice of "best" server.

Happy to be corrected if someone knows the situation better.  Also, Eddie may add some cleverness here.  Anyone?

[Staff 10116]

  On 12/3/2024 at 10:53 PM, SurprisedItWorks said:

Happy to be corrected if someone knows the situation better.  Also, Eddie may add some cleverness here.  Anyone?

Hello!

Yes, when Eddie Android or Desktop editions see that a connection is lost, they update server scores and likely change server (taking into account servers in the white list, if defined, and not considering servers in the black list, if defined). Note for Eddie Android edition: you can configure it to either mimic exactly WireGuard behavior, or having a supervision of the network status beyond the WireGuard one.

Kind regards