What is a normal speed loss with a VPN?

5–15% is an excellent result. 15–25% is normal for a distant server. More than 30% means the problem is either with the service or with your settings.

Do I need to choose the connection method myself?

In VolnaLink, the right connection method is chosen automatically. If the connection is slow, try a different server and update the app.

Why is my VPN slow at night?

If it's worse specifically at night, it's almost always server overload: peak hours for the local audience. Switch servers.

Can I speed up a VPN on an old computer?

Close programs that create a heavy load, update the app, and try the nearest server. On older devices, the computer's own performance can also limit speed.

Why do sites take longer to open with a VPN even though the speed test shows normal speed?

Besides overall speed, loading is affected by the time it takes to get the first response from the server. When you connect through a distant VPN server, this time can increase, so pages start opening a little more slowly.

Why Is My VPN Slow: 7 Causes and Fixes

"I turned on the VPN, and now sites take longer to load and videos stutter." This is the most common complaint after installing a VPN. The good news: in most cases it can be fixed in a couple of minutes by changing one or two settings. The bad news: sometimes the cause lies not with the VPN, but with the internet connection itself.

Why a VPN is slow: causes and ways to speed it up — Measuring internet speed through a VPN

Let's go through the 7 main causes of a slow VPN and what to do about each one.

Cause 1: A distant server

This is the most common one. If you're in Moscow and connect to a server in the US, every request you make has to travel several thousand kilometers and come back. The speed of light in optical fiber sets a physical limit: you will never get less than 100 ms of latency to America from Europe.

Solution: choose a closer server. For everyday use, pick one in your own country or a neighboring one. For specific tasks (opening an American website), pick one in the region you need, but then it's no longer a "fast VPN" but a "VPN for the task."

Cause 2: An overloaded server

Distance to a VPN server and its effect on speed — The farther the server, the higher the latency

If 1,000 users are on the same server at once, your speed is split among those thousand. This is a typical problem with free VPNs: few servers, lots of users.

Solution: in the app, choose a server with a low load (good apps show an indicator: 30%, 70%, 90%). Or switch to a paid service with more servers and spare capacity.

Cause 3: The connection method

Different VPN connection methods can affect speed and the load on your device in different ways.

In VolnaLink, the connection method is chosen automatically. If your speed has dropped noticeably, update the app, restart the connection, and try a different server.

Cause 4: The speed of your internet itself

Sometimes a "slow VPN" is really slow internet, and the VPN just makes it obvious. Run a speed test without the VPN first, then with the VPN. If you also get 5 Mbps without the VPN, the problem isn't the VPN.

Solution: if your internet is slow on its own, contact your provider or check your router. On a slow base connection, even a perfect VPN won't make you faster.

Cause 5: Wi-Fi at its limit

If your laptop is connected to Wi-Fi 10 meters away through 2 walls, the actual speed can drop from 200 Mbps to 30. A VPN adds another 5–10% loss on top, and the result is that instead of "seems fast" you get "clearly slow."

Solution: move closer to the router or connect with a cable. This isn't the VPN, it's the physics of radio signals.

Cause 6: Antivirus and firewall

Some antivirus programs (especially "all-in-one security suites") scan ALL of your traffic in real time, including the encrypted VPN tunnel. This doubles the load and causes a noticeable slowdown.

Solution: add the VPN app to your antivirus exclusions. On Windows, check whether Windows Defender has active traffic filtering on your network connections.

Cause 7: Time of day and your provider

In the evening, the load on your provider's network can increase, which lowers the connection speed. This can affect both your regular connection and the VPN.

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Compare your speed with and without the VPN at different times of day. In VolnaLink, the connection settings are chosen automatically. If the problem only shows up in the evening, contact your internet provider or VolnaLink support.

Quick diagnostics: what to check in 5 minutes

If your VPN has suddenly become slow, go through this short checklist:

Run a speed test without the VPN to measure your baseline speed.
Run a speed test with the VPN on the nearest server — you should get 80–95% of your baseline.
If it's lower, try another server in the same country.
If it's still slow, reconnect: the app will pick the connection method again.
If that doesn't help either, disable your antivirus for 1 minute and run the test again. If the speed comes back, the antivirus is getting in the way.

In 90% of cases, the problem turns up at one of these steps.

Realistic speed expectations

Sometimes a "slow VPN" is simply a case of inflated expectations. Realistic figures:

Nearby server: 85–95% of your baseline speed. On a 100 Mbps connection, that's 85–95 Mbps through the VPN. That's normal.
Distant server (across an ocean): 50–70% of your baseline. Not because the VPN is bad, but because of the distance.
Outdated protocol: older VPN protocols lose noticeably more — minus 20–40%. VolnaLink uses the modern VLESS Reality, Trojan and Hysteria 2 and picks the right one automatically.
Free VPN: 10–30% of your baseline speed is a typical result.

The VPN is still very slow

If the previous steps didn't help, don't change any additional network settings on your own: incorrect settings can cut off your internet completely.

Gather your speed test results with and without the VPN, note the network and server you're using, and then send this information to support.

VPN on mobile internet: a special case

On 4G/5G, a "slow VPN" is often misdiagnosed, because the mobile network fluctuates on its own. One moment it's 60 Mbps, the next it's 8, and that has nothing to do with the VPN. If the VPN seems slow on your phone, first check your baseline speed without the VPN in the same place, at the same time of day.

Another quirk of mobile networks is that carriers aggressively compress video and images on the fly (especially Russian carriers on plans with unlimited YouTube/social media). A VPN turns this compression off, because the carrier can't see what's inside the tunnel. As a result, image quality goes up, while the perceived loading speed goes down: you're downloading more data in the same amount of time. It's not that "the VPN is slow" — it's that "the carrier is no longer compressing."

A VPN can increase mobile data usage by roughly 1–3% due to data encryption. On a limited plan this is worth keeping in mind, while on an unlimited plan the difference is usually unnoticeable.

If the VPN won't connect at all

That's a different problem, and we've covered it separately — VPN won't connect.

Summary

VPN speed is a combination of several factors: the distance to the server, the server load, the protocol, and your own connection. In most cases, choosing a nearby, less loaded server solves the problem. If the speed drops by more than 30%, it's time to switch to a better service.

In VolnaLink, the connection method is chosen automatically. If your speed has dropped noticeably, try a different server and compare the results. You can test the connection during the free period without linking a card.

Why Is My VPN Slow: Causes and What to Do