Serious Discussion Is it just me, or does ProtonVPN free seems slower now?

[Victor M]

Is it just me, or does ProtonVPN free seems slower now ?

 

[Bot]

It's not just you. Many users have reported slower speeds with the free version of ProtonVPN recently. This could be due to increased demand or server load.

 

[badboy]

I would say the ping has increased, but not the speed. On the other hand - it's a free version.

 

[Victor M]

It seems faster today; back to what it was before. It was slow for 3-4 days.

 

[anirbandutta01]

Now using.... No issue at present.

 

[Jonny Quest]

It seems faster today; back to what it was before. It was slow for 3-4 days.

I think for me, it depended on the time of day. It seemed that it would slow down later in the day (US server) or from the length of time used? It annoyed me enough that I changed to F-Secures improved VPN (in my IS subscription). I know, it's a mid tier AV and VPN but it's been working very nicely with the improvements they've made, and at least I can change servers.



My default ISP speeds.

F-Secure Atlanta.

F-Secure Chicago.

 

[Marko :)]

Knowing the company, I wouldn't be surprised if they are doing that on purpose to make you buy premium plan. It wouldn't be their first time.

 

[Jonny Quest]

Knowing the company, I wouldn't be surprised if they are doing that on purpose to make you buy premium plan. It wouldn't be their first time.

And that's what I was thinking when the slow down started happening with me. Or, that they're getting more popular and is becoming a server overload issue?

 

[Victor M]

could be some promo gone unexpectedly viral.

 

[nicolaasjan]

and at least now I can change servers.

In Proton VPN Free (on Linux), I can also choose servers based on their load:

 

[Jonny Quest]

In Proton VPN Free (on Linux), I can also choose servers based on their load:

View attachment 288999

In my case, I couldn't, it was dependent on what Proton thought was the best server when I was able to refresh it. I could not manually pick and choose a server to connect to.

How to change server if you’re on the Proton VPN Free plan | Proton VPN

 

[Parkinsond]

In my case, I couldn't, it was dependent on what Proton thought was the best server when I was able to refresh it. I could not manually pick and choose a server to connect to. A country, yes I could chose that, but only the server that Proton thought was best.

How to change server if you’re on the Proton VPN Free plan | Proton VPN

Not reachable in my region

Spoiler: ProtonVPN

But I managed to successfully install by downloading the installer from my Proton mail account.

 

[nicolaasjan]

In my case, I couldn't, it was dependent on what Proton thought was the best server when I was able to refresh it. I could not manually pick and choose a server to connect to. A country, yes I could chose that, but only the server that Proton thought was best.

Then it must be different on Windows?

 

[Marko :)]

And that's what I was thinking when the slow down started happening with me. Or, that they're getting more popular and is is becoming a server overload issue?

Must be French desperately accessing PornHub.

In my case, I couldn't, it was dependent on what Proton thought was the best server when I was able to refresh it. I could not manually pick and choose a server to connect to. A country, yes I could chose that, but only the server that Proton thought was best.

How to change server if you’re on the Proton VPN Free plan | Proton VPN

Wait, you can change the country again? I swear I couldn't the last time I tried it. I could only use "quick connect".

Not reachable in my region

Spoiler: ProtonVPN

View attachment 289000

But I managed to successfully install by downloading the installer from my Proton mail account.

What DNS are you using? Try changing it. A lot of times, DNS is the reason why you can't access a website.

Then it must be different on Windows?

Yes.

 

[Jonny Quest]

Must be French desperately accessing PornHub.

Wait, you can change the country again? I swear I couldn't the last time I tried it. I could only use "quick connect".

What DNS are you using? Try changing it. A lot of times, DNS is the reason why you can't access a website.

Yes.

Good point, I'll change my post. At times, it would initially pick a country (usually Japan) until I refreshed it to find the US.

 

[KnownStormChaser]

Probably those people who were banned from Windscribe for using 8 petabytes of data have moved to Proton.

 

[Parkinsond]

What DNS are you using? Try changing it. A lot of times, DNS is the reason why you can't access a website.

NextDNS; I do not think it is the cause; most VPN services are blocked regionally.

 

[Marko :)]

NextDNS; I do not think it is the cause; most VPN services are blocked regionally.

Try it, you never know. In my country, web isn't censored. Only illegal betting sites are blocked, and only on DNS level. But I did stumble upon some sites that I couldn't load, and it appeared it was DNS fault. That's when I stopped using the DNS from my ISP servers. They do not support DNSSEC, are slow in resolving queries and totally unreliable (multiple times happened they were down).

 

[Parkinsond]

Try it, you never know. In my country, web isn't censored. Only illegal betting sites are blocked, and only on DNS level. But I did stumble upon some sites that I couldn't load, and it appeared it was DNS fault. That's when I stopped using the DNS from my ISP servers. They do not support DNSSEC, are slow in resolving queries and totally unreliable (multiple times happened they were down).

What DNS you suggest as a replacement to NextDNS?

 

[Marko :)]

What DNS you suggest as a replacement to NextDNS?

Try AdGuard Public DNS. Put https://dns.adguard-dns.com/dns-query into DoH setting in your web browser. Then, go to AdGuard test website to see if it's working. And then open incognito tab and try to visit the website you couldn't access.

If website loads, then it's NextDNS issue. If doesn't, the web is censored by using DPI and I'd recommend you to try Cloudflare WARP as it's free, unlimited and encrypted. There are many ways to bypass censorship.