How to Reduce Your VPN’s Latency, Buffering, Lag, or Ping Time?

Nowadays hundreds of VPN are available in the market claiming the best services. How to choose the right VPN is becoming more and more important. Different providers will have different speeds and there are three test measures of a VPN speed: download speed, upload speed, and VPN latency.

Download speed tests the rate of data transfer from the internet to your computer and upload speed measures the rate transferred from your device to the internet. VPN latency tests the amount of time between your device sending out a data packet (ping) and the device receiving a response. 

Do you know the VPN latency meaning? Latency is also called the ping time and the lower the latency, download speed, and upload speed, the better for your connection. Here we are going to focus on how to improve VPN latency.

As mentioned above, VPN latency is the measurement of time between when your computer sends a request and when it receives a response. For example, you would like to review a website using a VPN service and it takes one second before the webpage fully loads after you click the webpage link, then the one second will be the VPN latency for this time.

However, most users will not notice even there is a large increase in latency because latency is measured in milliseconds, one second equals one thousand milliseconds. Latency can help users to understand how fast a webpage or application will load but bear in mind, it can’t be eliminated completely due to the way networks communicate with each other, for example, delays of transmission mediums. However, it can be always minimized. Low latency will lead to a more responsive experience, so everyone will hope to know how to reduce VPN latency.

Generally, VPNs will slightly increase latency. This is because of the extra steps to the connections comparing to connect without using VPNs. VPNs encrypt your traffic and rout it through a secure server located in a different region, which caused extra travel time for the requests and responses especially if the server location is far.

For example, if a user is located in Canada but wants to connect to a server in Australia, then it’s long-distance and time-consuming for the data packet to travel to an Australian server.

What’s more, if too many users using the same VPN server at the same time, it will also slow the load times and introduce more latency. VPN’s encryption process can help users’ online traffic be inaccessible to hackers, letting users browse in privacy, but encryption also takes time, and normally the more secured encryption protocols will cause greater latency.

So it is a matter of preference, do you want to have a faster speed or better data protection? Users need to take note that VPN service is limited by the speed of the connection that you’re using to access the VPN server, although sometimes it can help users bypass the speed limitations imposed by the internet service providers.

1. Opt for a low latency VPN - iTop

 Although a VPN normally slightly slows down your internet speed, premium VPNs are designed to mitigate the impact of latency until it becomes barely noticeable, like VPN low latency, iTop VPN. It is a high-speed VPN that offers 1800+ servers in over 100 locations.

iTop VPN - Private VPN to Stay Anoymous Online

• Get 3200+ servers to visit sites freely worldwide
• Hide your IP address to protect your privacy
• Automatic kill switch to protect your data
• Double VPN & dark web monitor for extra security

Buy iTop VPN Download Now

Buy iTop VPN Download Now

Previously we said that long distances to the server will introduce more latency, iTop VPN can auto-select the most stable and closer server for you. However, you can also search for a specific country to connect to. Spare servers are also available.

Secondly, iTop VPN is free to download, it supports systems like Windows, iOS, and Android. Users can enjoy 100% free VPN service and it’s not like some other VPNs in the market, offering free trials but starting to charge you money after trials.

VPNs sometimes can help you bypass the speed limitations imposed by your internet service providers. Connecting to a VPN will hide your IP from everyone so that your internet service providers can’t choose to throttle your internet speed if they can’t see what you are up to. With iTop VPN, users can enjoy unlimited bandwidth service with a stable internet speed.

Here are detailed steps to use iTop VPN:

Step 1: Download iTop VPN. 

Visit the official website of iTop VPN, and download the different versions of setup files for Windows, Android, iOS or macOS systems as per your needs. To be noted is that iTop is the best free VPN for Windows currently. Install iTop VPN software on your device.

Step 2: Select Server.

To optimize your browsing experience, iTop VPN could auto-select the most stable and fastest server for you based on your purposes. However, the "Home" tab allows you to select servers on your own as well.

Step 3: Connect.

Click “connect” to enjoy a free and reliable VPN service. 

2. Troubleshoot your VPN-free connection problems

Check with your VPN provider’s online help center if the VPN won’t get connected. But before that, ensure that your internet connection is normal, VPN is updated and the firewall gets along with your VPN.

3. Choose a closer VPN server location

You should always choose a VPN server location that is physically close to you if required for a faster online experience. This can reduce the travel time of the data package between your device and the VPN server. It will help you to enjoy a smooth online experience when using a VPN service.

4. Choose VPN servers with low load

What is server load? It’s linked to how many users are connected to that server at a particular time. Each server will have the capacity to process a certain number of users and once the limit is reached, users will suffer a slow connection issue. We should always choose a server with the lowest server load for a better connection. In normal circumstances, a server load of 50% or below will support a fast connection.

5. Choose a VPN protocol with lower encryption strength

VPN protocol with lower encryption strength will help to improve connection if you prefer speed more than security as encrypting and decrypting data takes time. There are many types of VPN protocols like PPTP, SSTP, OpenVPN, WireGuard, IKEv2/IPsec, etc. You can try to switch different protocol and find a one suit you the most.

Above are some tips and VPN latency meaning for you to learn how ro reduce VPN latency. Try them out and see which one works the best for you. Basically, a VPN with low latency will help to improve your VPN latency issues. VPN services are getting more and more popular as people now care for online privacy and if you are still looking for a reliable VPN, go and download iTop VPN for Android, for iOS and for PC today and give it a try. You will definitely enjoy this user-friendly VPN.