I am using OpenVPN, Free Download Manager (FDM), and Networx (a free network monitoring app) on Win 7.
When I am downloading a certain specific file, say 20mb in size, and at 1mbps, the stats in FDM match what Networx shows.
However, when I try downloading the same thing through OpenVPN, FDM still shows me downloading 20mb, at 1mbps , but Networx shows me downloading >20mb, at about 2mbps. (at the same time)
I can download at around 3 mbps on average.
Why does using OpenVPN cause a higher download speed, for more content, when in fact I am receiving the actual file at lesser speed and smaller size?
This is because of the compression that OpenVPN uses.
LZO compression makes the data size smaller, and decompresses the data in software before “passing” the data to your LAN adapter where the speed is read.
This makes the monitoring software think that data is moving at a faster rate than it actually is, and it’s an inaccurate read. It also causes the “data bloat” that you’re seeing.
To test if what i’m saying is accurate, you can download a test file with highly randomized data that that cannot be compressed, there should be little to no difference between the two if compression is the cause of the discrepancy.
http://testfile.nyc.steadfast.net/data.bin
I tested that test file to see how random the data was, and it appears that you’ll only see about a ~2% discrepancy at most.
Let me know if this is your issue as i’m not familiar with Networx, but this is my best guess as to what is happening.
can you tell us what sort of local isp you use? adsl fiber wifi cellular satellite or cable - if cable how many down/up channels are being bonded by your modem.
your local isp is either throttling a specific sight or type of activity, and/or your local isp is poorly routing you out to the national/international backbones of the internet. either way it’s unusual as maybe 10% of the anecdotes we discuss actually confirm on vpn as being faster than a local isp’s public ip. most of the time the VPN overhead would make it >20% slower than a local isp alone, depending on how geographically far away and congested that VPN outlet is.
Huh. That does make sense. I’ll give it a shot sometime later this week. (when I get back to my laptop)
I’m on wifi on a College campus.