Hi,

I live on Koh Phangan and am looking for a faster route to Europe. I read somewhere routing through Singapore would increase my speed vs. whatever the default route is - I get slightly faster speed to Singapore (ping 30ms, DL/UL 5/0.5) than Bangkok (35 ms, 4.5/0.4) so thought I'd see if I can get better speeds to Europe through a VPN server in Singapore.

Can anyone recommend a good VPN provider with a server in Singapore? Google brings up tons. I would ideally like one that does not keep logs, though I don't know if Singaporean law requires keeping logs. It's not a dealbreaker though - speed is, and price as well, to some extent.

I could try a couple of course but there's a cost so if anyone can recommend a good VPN provider with a server in Singapore, let me know.

I've tried several and presently settled on Witopia which has servers all over the world, including Singapore. It is reliable, has good support if you need it and being able to choose servers from a wide range of countries is useful occasionally.

Though there can be many advantages in using a VPN, from my experience higher download speeds isn't one of them. I've tried comparing downloads from filehosts while switching the VPN between HKG, SIN, USA and it was never faster than direct from the Thai ISP. Usually much slower actually.

I have read posts on this forum that suggest a VPN can improve video or live TV streaming but I don't have any experience with that.

Interesting, thanks a lot for that. I already use a VPN service, but they only have servers in Europe and North America. I lose 80-90 % of my speed whenever I use any of their servers (been using them for years in Europe before I moved here a month ago).

I was hoping for faster streaming (Northern Europe, mostly), for P2P VPN probably makes no sense.

I don't recommend VPN services like HMA or others because singapore node is usually full and doesn't deliver promised speed.

What I did is to buy a vps from oneasiahost.com for $7 usd / month with 200Gb bandwith (enough for browsing and downloading some stuff). They also have 500Gb package on CORE VPS option (no direct europe route, everything goes from USA) for same price but I needed european routing so I choose $7 - 200Gb one.

I did install PPTP server (very easy, works on iphone/ipad) and Squid proxy server. Squid proxy delivers much better speed than vpn, but you may need vpn for VOIP / Skype.

Their route to EU and USA is very good. The only reason I got this is due to transparent stupid proxy of True Online. Without an external proxy or vpn, I got problems with Facebook.

You can test ping / traceroute before buy anything

http://www.oneasiahost.com/lg/

Interesting, thanks. Incidentally, I've been testing unblock-us.com and so far, it gives me stutter-free streaming on BBC iPlayer and a number of similar services in other European countries. Skype is already good enough as is. I wasn't expecting much of unblock-us.com so I've been pleasantly surprised. I'll run the free 7 days trial through and if I don't run into trouble, I'll probably sign up for their service.

For faster speeds to Europe, try Eastern European VPN's.. like Romania etc..

I'm not sure that by faster you actually mean speed or Ping time.

@AngThong,

Who is your ISP ?

Currently TOT but I'm hoping to switch to 3BB.

TOT have more bandwidth but 3BB have better routing IMHO.

Actually TOT can take you via some *very* long geographical routes. There might be a reason for such behaviour but I don't know the reason.

edit: http://www.totiig.net/lg

Ok, thanks. TOT sucks on Pha Ngan at any rate so that's reason enough to switch to 3BB.

Yea, a VPN may not give you any faster international speed...maybe it's common for a VPN service to limit international bandwidth or maybe your ISP is somehow able to throttle VPN bandwidth/limit the size of the VPN tunnel. I use StrongVPN to a San Francisco server and only get around 2Mb speed although I can get a significantly higher speed to SF if the VPN is turned off....but the VPN service does sometimes provide a "smoother/more consistent" data flow instead of millisecond stop-and-go streaming which streaming video just don't like...causes pauses/buffering. I"ve also tried another the TunnelBear VPN service to the U.S. and pretty much get the same results. And I use Java-based speedtesters since Flash/OOKLA based speed testers are easily fooled by local cache servers.

I get 5-6 Mbit/s to my server in Los Angeles. But routing to EU via USA is kinda stupid and increases ping time.

Also, TOT seems to have upgraded their international connection and peering

http://www.totiig.net/totiig/images/Worldmap_IIG_large.jpg

However, their routing is the most stupid I've ever seen. I want to know who set up their BGP routers?

I'm sorry to take the thread slightly off-topic but...

I'd really like to know how and where any given ISP can limit their customers bandwidth ?

Let's say that a US site is pushing some packets to me and they have a fat pipe...

So at which point in the chain does traffic shaping occur ? Core network, Edge, or at the customer facing BRAS/Line-Concentrators ?

When I do speed tests ; they reveal that the connection is 95% idle.

That's interesting - I'd like to know that, too. I seem to be able to stream European video just fine with unblock-us.com, but I'd be interested in even better performance... If I can get a stable connection (DL/UL) of 1.5 - 2 MB/s to Europe I'd be a very happy camper indeed. I'll first need to upgrade to 3BB 15/1 ADSL which is the best there is in these parts, apparently. I'd be happy to give up half of that DL for just another 1 MB/s of UL speed...

VPN located in on the US west coast either San Jose or L.A would get you the best route. Japan might work also getting you a route via Seattle.

There's some problems with routes westward bound due to a damaged submarine cable.

Go East... to get to the west !!

I find if you're just streaming video, a proxy server works better than a VPN.

I don't recommend VPN services like HMA or others because singapore node is usually full and doesn't deliver promised speed.

What I did is to buy a vps from oneasiahost.com for $7 usd / month with 200Gb bandwith (enough for browsing and downloading some stuff). They also have 500Gb package on CORE VPS option (no direct europe route, everything goes from USA) for same price but I needed european routing so I choose $7 - 200Gb one.

I did install PPTP server (very easy, works on iphone/ipad) and Squid proxy server. Squid proxy delivers much better speed than vpn, but you may need vpn for VOIP / Skype.

Their route to EU and USA is very good. The only reason I got this is due to transparent stupid proxy of True Online. Without an external proxy or vpn, I got problems with Facebook.

You can test ping / traceroute before buy anything

http://www.oneasiahost.com/lg/

I've got a VPS with them (KVM SSD non-CORE) and notice a download rate from the states (SG - USA) at around 1-2 Mbit/s . Pretty low considering that 50Mbit home broadband is normal in Singapore.

I guess that they mainly serve as a node for Chinese internet users who have their own proxy servers / VPNs.

A VPN usually slows down your internet connection but in now way is increasing it. Your internet speed while connecting to a vpn depends on your ISP, the protocol used (Open VPN, PPTP etc) and the server you are connecting. The best way to find out which vpn is the best for you is to test them (some accept trials) and then you can purchase a paid version.

Regarding the Singapore server, IPVanish VPN is a good provider and has server in this location: http://starvpnreviews.com/ipvanish-vpn/

VPN providers offering trial accounts: ibVPN, CyberGhost, OverPlay VPN, Cactus VPN.

Good luck.

Thanks, everyone. I asked a couple of Singapore expats and they say even their speed is heavily throtted to US & Europe due to backbone restrictions (apparently, most of the backbone bandwidth is reserved for corporations, privat customer speed is heavily regulated).