Anyone using VPN?

[CharlieH]

A number of abrasive and inflammatory remarks removed.

4) You will not not discuss methods of bypassing blocking of websites, or circumventing any censorship of the internet or other communications by lawful authorities.

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[RichCor]

If your UPLOAD speed is slow, a VPN will not make SENDING DATA any faster. Usually the opposite occurs.

Who is your current ISP? What speed are you subscribed for?

I'm with TOT, 7Mbs. Paying 740 Baht/month

A few weeks ago I used speedtest and got this:

BKK 7Mb down, 0.34 up.

USA 0.21Mbs down, 0.04 up

UK 1.5Mbs down, 0.06 up

I did it twice a few days apart in the early evening, with similar results.

After I called TOT three times about the slow international speed, they sent someone round. The guy phoned the ADSL control, got them to increase the ADSL speed to 10Mbs. It seemed hardly different (not surprising to my mind), and that was it.

I see Forkinhades said there was an "international" option with one ISP. Does that work in reality, and what sort of price? I'm worried it might be too expensive for me.

Where in the US did you do your speedtest? Where was the speedtest server located?

There are huge differences in speedtest results even when servers are geographically close!

Check out the many different server options in and around San Jose and San Francisco and the will be large differences in speedtest results!

Dont assume speedtest is absolute!

Also if your ISP routes your traffic to the US via Europe it will be very slow and this happens!

Traceroute software IDs the routing and slow servers!

No matter who you use all international traffic will find its way through a TOT gateway!

I consistantly used Mansfield, Passadena, that's closest to where my Webhost is located.

How well is Pasadena, CA working for you? What does a TraceRoute of your Webhost show when using it?

You will get better throughput when finding a VPN end-point that PEERS Directly with BOTH your Destination Site and the UnderSea Cable used to carry your packet traffic.

TOT has a Managed Router at 626 Wilshire (Los Angeles) that Peers directly with Microsoft, Any2, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Level 3, NTT and Cogent. (See Peering DB, TOT IIG Map)

If your destination site isn't directly or indirectly peered with either the UnderSea Cable or your ISP's remote Managed Router then the subsequent connection can take a long circuitous route through congested points where your packets are bound to get delayed or lost.

[cdnvic]

As Charlie said:

4) You will not not discuss methods of bypassing blocking of websites, or circumventing any censorship of the internet or other communications by lawful authorities.

No more warnings

[Maroon Watcher]

I used Cyber Ghost with True - no problems, no speed change...

(Wait for a special offer for a trial -

version, then wait for "their last offer" for full version.
Full vesion alowes switching countries to get smoothest loading)

Note it did not work in China...

[craigt3365]

I find this topic quite interesting. I've done some research on VPNs, but am not technical at all. From what I understand, it's primarily used for protection. Not really for performance issues.

From what I've read, due to encryption, unusual routing of data, etc, you will "probably" get slower speed with a VPN than without. Yes, switching from one host country to another might give you better speeds, but will they be that much better than without? And is the minimal gain worth the hassle if all you are looking for is speed improvements???

Appreciate the input. My brother just told me they automatically upgraded him to 30mb for free back in Arizona! I'm desperately trying to get 10mb here! LOL

[CaptainFly]

Suggest you go to StrongVPN they will set you up and have great 24/7 online service. Internet speed sucks with all providers here to the states.

[craigt3365]

Just ran a test. I got 10.3 without VPN and 6.7 with a VPN. I'm using OpenVPN.

[sandyf]

If your UPLOAD speed is slow, a VPN will not make SENDING DATA any faster. Usually the opposite occurs.

Who is your current ISP? What speed are you subscribed for?

I'm with TOT, 7Mbs. Paying 740 Baht/month

A few weeks ago I used speedtest and got this:

BKK 7Mb down, 0.34 up.

USA 0.21Mbs down, 0.04 up

UK 1.5Mbs down, 0.06 up

I did it twice a few days apart in the early evening, with similar results.

After I called TOT three times about the slow international speed, they sent someone round. The guy phoned the ADSL control, got them to increase the ADSL speed to 10Mbs. It seemed hardly different (not surprising to my mind), and that was it.

I see Forkinhades said there was an "international" option with one ISP. Does that work in reality, and what sort of price? I'm worried it might be too expensive for me.

I was with TOT on that service and had the same problem, would just keep buffering when watching TV. When I complained they pointed out it is a 1 to 7Mbs service and they are only obliged to supply over the 1 Mbs.

Initially I changed to the 3BB 13Mbs service but they could not maintain that in this area and had to come down the 10Mbs service at 590/month and now there is no problem watching TV.

[sandyf]

Just ran a test. I got 10.3 without VPN and 6.7 with a VPN. I'm using OpenVPN.

Little bit puzzled by your results, I was under the impression that a VPN would normally change your IP address.

I use the same speed test and when I do it on VPN , it takes it from the server in UK. I normally get slightly slower speed than from the 3BB server in BKK.

[craigt3365]

Yes, the IP address did change.

[sunshine51]

I use CyberGhost..works good for me.

[rwdrwdrwd]

Yes, the IP address did change.

On the screenshots you shared you the ISP and IP address on both tests are identical. Therefore, it doesn't appear that you were connected to the VPN for the second test. Maybe it's just OOKLA being bad..

Another point though, non VPN to BKK is always going to be faster, I think speed servers in other countries is the important aspect.

Here's mine to London:

No VPN

Singapore VPN on AWS

That said - OOKLA is not reliable, and is easily faked by ISPs - I prefer testmy.net and here are the same results with that:

No VPN

Singapore VPN on AWS

Edited April 12, 2015 by rwdrwdrwd

[asdecas]

Just use Google Chrome browser and download the ZenMate extension. Free, choice of servers in five countries. But you do need to use Chrome to access websites that General Happiness doesn't want you to see.

[craigt3365]

Hmmm....we have an IP tracking tool here on our forum. I can see what IP address was used for posting. One of my posts is with the VPN, another without. 2 different IP addresses. Maybe the cache didn't get refreshed for that page???

Just ran another 2 tests. Exact same thing. Almost the exact same speeds.

[rwdrwdrwd]

I think maybe OOKLA incorrectly kept the old IP when you clicked 'test again'

My comment regarding testing to BKK still stands though, that is always going to be faster within Thailand when not using a VPN - it's the speed to non Thai servers that's the important data. Mine shows a doubling of both upload and download speed to London when using a Singapore VPN on TOT (testmy.net result, which is an accurate tool).

Of course not every VPN is alike - I've found a custom one on AWS (https://github.com/sebsto/AWSVPN) to be better than the off the shelf Singapore VPN services on offer.

I would really like to test a custom VPN setup on Softlayer because I get awesome speeds (and ping) when running tests direct to Softlayer's Singapore server with OOKLA. Expensive though for sure, and if the only service you want to run via Softlayer is a VPN, prohibitively so ($40 USD a month, so only any good if you're utilising the servers for other things and just using it as a VPN on the side).

Edited April 12, 2015 by rwdrwdrwd

[craigt3365]

OK....this is strange. I just did a new test. Using 2 different speed test programs. One showed a better speed with VPN outside Thailand, the other a worse speed.

I remember posting an article on why speed tests are pretty much useless. Maybe this confirms it????

Confused!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ammagic]

Using Epress VPN...costs $12/month but much cheaper annually. Great service & excellent customer service. Just google them. The free stuff doesn't work as well - at least in my experience

[RichCor]

OK....this is strange. I just did a new test. Using 2 different speed test programs. One showed a better speed with VPN outside Thailand, the other a worse speed.

I remember posting an article on why speed tests are pretty much useless. Maybe this confirms it????

Confused!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Probably one of the programs utilizes a site that happens to have direct peering (and shortest less congested route) with the target speed test server, while the other test program utilizes a site that has indirect peering and has to be routed through a 3rd of 4th center to reach it's destination.

Speed Tests are only indicators of data transport speed to be used for troubleshooting.

Just because I can get a 8mbps connection to a California test server doesn't mean I'll get that same speed connecting to a web service elsewhere in California, even if the Data Center is right next door. I usually find my single-thread connections being throttled to 1mbps, but multiple-thread connections combined can achieve 8mbps (or higher) depending on congestion.

Yes, it's possible a VPN can achieve faster speeds to web services located in certain areas. Just like you can take a surface street to bypass a congested freeway. Sometimes the freeway is faster, sometimes the surface street is faster. Depends on how everything is getting routed at any particular moment.

[craigt3365]

I'm using www.dslreports.com and speedtest.net.

Thanks for the reply, rich. For someone not technical like me, and where speed isn't really that big of a deal, trying to find the right VPN connection to use seems like a lot of work. All for an extra 1-3mb in connection speed. And for who knows how long????? Seems it's a constantly moving target???

[sandyf]

Just use Google Chrome browser and download the ZenMate extension. Free, choice of servers in five countries. But you do need to use Chrome to access websites that General Happiness doesn't want you to see.

It all depends on what you want to do. The chrome extensions are no good if you want to download from the BBC. Ok for watching but the download.exe is for internet explorer.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

International speeds to some countries within Asia will be much faster than others and almost certainly faster than connecting directly to the US.

For example using a VPN to force the route of your data through a node in Singapore may offer you a much faster connection to the US.

Some of the VPN operators offer lots of node locations and you can pick and choose which one to use.

So it can speed things up but only if the bottleneck is on the route your traffic takes to the US, if the bottleneck is at your local ISP exchange then there is no hope.

I don't know about uploading so much, because I don't pay attention to that especially.

But for downloading content from the U.S., using various VPNs has given me much greater downloading speeds than I get with True Online cable internet alone. I suspect that is because there is some international throttling going on at the ISP level, and VPN traffic, by using different ports, can avoid those kinds of slowdowns.

I've done A LOT of detailed speed testing on this over many many months, using different kinds of configurations with different VPNs, and my tests are done using TestMy.net, which is an accurate and reliable method for speed testing, unlike the Thai ISP/Ookla based tests.

I will say, not just any VPN provider and not just any VPN configuration will give you good/speedy results. Some approaches can indeed give you a slower connection than you'd otherwise have by just going through your ISP directly. But you kind of have to play around with different setups/servers/providers to find a particular solution that works well for your particular circumstance.

Generally, one of the approaches I've found that tends to work well, as UK mentioned above, is using a VPN provider that offers access to a SE Asia server-location (like Singapore or Taiwan or even China) that is set up to spoof a U.S. IP address. So, you get the advantage of a fast connection between Thailand and the VPN host (Singapore-based servers seem to be particularly good for here) and yet still have a U.S. IP that unlocks the content you might be seeking.

In terms of VPN formats, my experience with that has varied from provider to provider. Right now, I'm using Astrill (which offers a Singapore-US server, along with many other available server locales), and after a lot of speed testing, have found that using their L2TP protocol works much faster for me than using either their PPTP or Open VPN protocols. I have no idea why, but my repeated speed tests consistently show that with Astrill. In the past, with other providers, I've had different results and sometimes found PPTP was faster.

As for routers, there are two ways to go: One is to purchase a VPN router that comes with the necessary firmware pre-installed like DD-WRT or Tomato. Some of the VPN providers also sell, along with their service, VPN enabled routers that sometimes can be had for quite good prices, especially when purchased as a bundle package combining the router purchase along with a year-subscription to that particular VPN provider's service.

Another way, for the more technically inclined, is, depending on how much system memory your current non-VPN router has, it may be possible to flash it with DD-WRT or Tomato firmware to add a VPN capability to the existing device. But that can get complicated, as whether your router can accommodate that and if so, how to accomplish it, are pretty unique to each different device. So some research is required.

A lot of the VPN service reviews you may read on the Internet seem focused on how well they provide anonymity or don't keep any records, things aimed at people who do torrenting and such. But for me, I'm not really doing anything that I need to hide or keep secret per se. All I want is faster internet connection internationally than True Online alone gives me. And for that, there certainly are VPN services that meet that need.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I'm using www.dslreports.com and speedtest.net.

Thanks for the reply, rich. For someone not technical like me, and where speed isn't really that big of a deal, trying to find the right VPN connection to use seems like a lot of work. All for an extra 1-3mb in connection speed. And for who knows how long????? Seems it's a constantly moving target???

You really don't want to be using speedtest.net in Thailand for obtaining any kind of accurate international speed test.

TestMy.net, as mentioned above, will give you much better and accurate results.

BTW, whenever I test any particular set-up, I always do two things:

--1 use TestMyNet's 25 MB download test (not the shorter, quicker ones) to get a longer, more sustained sampling.

--2 do THREE back-to-back sets of any particular configuration. That's because speeds here don't tend to be steady, they tend to bounce up and down. So if you only take one quick sample for any configuration, it might be sampling a peak/hi or valley/low point. Whereas what you're interested in is what are the sustained, average speeds going to be.

In my experience, the difference between using my Thai ISP only vs. using the right VPN setup that gives me a U.S. IP address is the difference between being able to access the U.S. video streaming content I want vs not being able to, and being able to stream it at sufficient enough speeds to allow decent quality playback here, even in the primetime evening hours, vs not being able to get that at all.

Edited April 13, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[marquis22]

If you are using a Windows PC, try downloading Hola! Better Internet Connection.

It's a browser-based PROXY extension that lets you select a route through another country (as your IP endpoint) on a domain-by-domain basis. Normally all traffic will travel normally unless you've selected a certain domain name to use another country as an exit point.

Sometimes I have issues getting ebay or amazon to render the page quickly accessing directly. Setting Singapore or USA will usually give me quick accurate access to the site.

As far as International Internet Gateway speed is concerned, most everyone has issues (depending on what Country they're accessing), and even more so at specific times. Way too many Facebook and YouTube users in this country.

I use Hola and it work fine for some sites I need it for.

But others I want seem to be able to block VPN servers and they still know I am not in Australia and block.

[tlcwaterfall]

If you are using a Windows PC, try downloading Hola! Better Internet Connection.

It's a browser-based PROXY extension that lets you select a route through another country (as your IP endpoint) on a domain-by-domain basis. Normally all traffic will travel normally unless you've selected a certain domain name to use another country as an exit point.

Sometimes I have issues getting ebay or amazon to render the page quickly accessing directly. Setting Singapore or USA will usually give me quick accurate access to the site.

As far as International Internet Gateway speed is concerned, most everyone has issues (depending on what Country they're accessing), and even more so at specific times. Way too many Facebook and YouTube users in this country.

I use Hola and it work fine for some sites I need it for.

But others I want seem to be able to block VPN servers and they still know I am not in Australia and block.

I have used Hola to access Australian catch up tv sites. Results are very disappointing. Simply does not work.

[marquis22]

If you are using a Windows PC, try downloading Hola! Better Internet Connection.

It's a browser-based PROXY extension that lets you select a route through another country (as your IP endpoint) on a domain-by-domain basis. Normally all traffic will travel normally unless you've selected a certain domain name to use another country as an exit point.

Sometimes I have issues getting ebay or amazon to render the page quickly accessing directly. Setting Singapore or USA will usually give me quick accurate access to the site.

As far as International Internet Gateway speed is concerned, most everyone has issues (depending on what Country they're accessing), and even more so at specific times. Way too many Facebook and YouTube users in this country.

I use Hola and it work fine for some sites I need it for.

But others I want seem to be able to block VPN servers and they still know I am not in Australia and block.

I have used Hola to access Australian catch up tv sites. Results are very disappointing. Simply does not work.

Yes I cannot access SBS movies or videos and AFL replay, but apparently they can block anyone using any VPN not only Hola.

[RichCor]

If you are using a Windows PC, try downloading Hola! Better Internet Connection.

It's a browser-based PROXY extension that lets you select a route through another country (as your IP endpoint) on a domain-by-domain basis. Normally all traffic will travel normally unless you've selected a certain domain name to use another country as an exit point.

Sometimes I have issues getting ebay or amazon to render the page quickly accessing directly. Setting Singapore or USA will usually give me quick accurate access to the site.

As far as International Internet Gateway speed is concerned, most everyone has issues (depending on what Country they're accessing), and even more so at specific times. Way too many Facebook and YouTube users in this country.

I use Hola and it work fine for some sites I need it for.

But others I want seem to be able to block VPN servers and they still know I am not in Australia and block.

I have used Hola to access Australian catch up tv sites. Results are very disappointing. Simply does not work.

If the site only utilize a single domain to deliver content then Hola (or other simple VPN/Proxy-based services) usually works fine.

Austrailia's ABC iView and SBS OnDemand is another matter. The actual streaming system deliver bits and pieces of their content using many domains, with many geo-locations tests. With these sites you need a Full VPN Service.

[Sailbad the sinner]

Like others have said, your speed problems are due to the crap infrastructue here, a VPN will not help. However, if you wish to view content (eg BBC iPlayer etc) that is restricted to its home country, then a VPN is ideal. If you are using Windows there is no need to change anything on your PC or Router, just install the VPN software and select which country you wish to be connected via and off you go. I use Private Internet Access, a US company (I think) and am very happy with them. Most Firms will give you the option of paying just for a month so that you can make sure that you are happy before commiting to a yearly and thus much cheaper package.

I did initilly try some of the free options arcatound but they were no good for the long term.

Hi

I also use the same VPN....... and connected with CAT for up to 15mps...... but when i play bbc iplayer it is constantly pausing...... any suggestions?

[loppylugs1]

Is Hola still up and running,or not?. Cannot install on Firefox,maybe Chrome?

[Chivas]

Is Hola still up and running,or not?. Cannot install on Firefox,maybe Chrome?

Completely doesn't work on mine......

Checked and doubly checked and does absolutely nothing......

Zenmate has gone south as well with the removal of the UK IP address unfortunanetly

[Sailbad the sinner]

Hi

I also use the same VPN....... and connected with CAT for up to 15mps...... but when i play bbc iplayer it is constantly pausing...... any suggestions?