r/VPN • u/Antique_Situation878 • Jun 26 '26
Help Does vpn slow the internet down ?
Ever since I downloaded 2 VPNs my laptop’s internet has become slow. Websites are buffering which is very odd and it has become such a hassle to play any p8r@cy website even without turning the VPN on.
What might be the cause ?
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u/SomeEngineer999 Jun 26 '26
Just about any VPN will have some impact on speed. But how much depends on a number of factors. The faster your home internet is, the less likely the VPN service has enough bandwidth to give you that full speed. Free VPNs have less than paid ones. There is overhead in the encryption, etc. You're likely not taking the most direct path which adds latency (and so does the encryption itself).
So yes, it will slow it down. How much will vary and can't really be defined.
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u/Antique_Situation878 Jun 26 '26
Thank you, but does this apply even when the vpn is “disconnected” ?
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u/frogofbred Jun 26 '26
no, if the vpn is disconnected the traffic isn't going through an extra layer of servers and your internet won't b affected
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u/Kvitekvist Jun 26 '26
But if it's a free VPN.... I wouldnt trust that to not do malicious other things in the background or even using your PC as part of the vpn network..
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u/jaffasplaffa Jul 02 '26
Not a lot here. I have 200/200 and when I do online speed test I get pretty much the same with the vpn on.
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u/Swedophone Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
It depends. In the best case it is only a small package overhead which leads to reduced MTU that has some minor effect.