Does VPN help to solve Internet congestion problems?
- Thread starter torloisk
- Start date
Since you can't control with whom to connect in a P2P network I'm gonna say it won't help.
That, too.
FWIW I've a VPN and not had any issues playing Elite compared to disconnecting and using my normal ISP, who again Ive had next to no issues with even if they are well known for throttling people's bandwidth. I just ran a speedtest and there was next to no difference. Equally I dont see a reason to use a VPN if only for Elite.
The only benefit to using a VPN might be increased chance of instancing with people in other geographical areas, but it would probably increase ping times significantly so you'll need a good connection anyway.
This is somewhat counter-intuitive. In a direct internet connection, you hit your ISP and then get routed via a number of hops to your destination. The numbers of hops can be spread across a number of locations, but not always the shortest path. In a VPN connection, there are fewer hops to reach the destination and if the VPN network chosen is in GB or Europe, then your connection may be faster. Here in my state on the west coast of the US, using NordVPN, my internet connection speed and numbers of hops is actually faster and the distance shorter to the endpoint than it is using standard non-vpn internet connections.
So, using VPN wisely, and connecting to a VPN network close to Frontier's servers may prove faster and more reliable than using undirected internet connections which have more hops in the route to the desired destination. If those you wish to instance with are located in a specific geographic location and you connect to a VPN host in that geographic location, you may have a better chance of improving the instancing with them.
It comes down to using VPN wisely and choosing the VPN servers in a geographic location which benefit your gaming experience. It also depends greatly on the VPN hosting service you have access to and the numbers of servers available in geographic locations of interest. I have my VPN server choices narrowed down to GB and Europe and specifically chosen at game time to connect to those servers specifically when playing Elite.
So, using VPN wisely, and connecting to a VPN network close to Frontier's servers may prove faster and more reliable than using undirected internet connections which have more hops in the route to the desired destination. If those you wish to instance with are located in a specific geographic location and you connect to a VPN host in that geographic location, you may have a better chance of improving the instancing with them.
It comes down to using VPN wisely and choosing the VPN servers in a geographic location which benefit your gaming experience. It also depends greatly on the VPN hosting service you have access to and the numbers of servers available in geographic locations of interest. I have my VPN server choices narrowed down to GB and Europe and specifically chosen at game time to connect to those servers specifically when playing Elite.
I thought a VPN was a Virtual P*** Network, for downloading things that you don't want your family to see.
Thanks, @Paul Eddington, that is also my understanding. With VPN you no longer have to rely on the "random" Internet routing your ISP offers and you're able to use the dedicated connections the VPN service provides.
Think of VPN as logging into your employer's company network. In a corporate networking environment, you only see the other computers or servers there and the routing and networking there is done by the domain controller. The corporate network is protected by a firewall and that isolated network may have internet access by connecting through a proxy server. Something like a corporate remote access server and your credentialed access is controlled by a RAS process.
VPN works very much the same. The virtual part of VPN is in the network addressing and it is a private network, the same as if you were using your employers corporate network.
Since your wife and kids can't access your employers company network, they can't see or access things you see or do.
So, companies realized they could use this "employer-company network environment" on a global scale calling it a VPN to protect users data and privacy. The only real difference is you don't have to be an employee of the company to access the network. You sign up as a "client" and pay a subscription. There is no employee/employer relationship. In conclusion, the VPN hosting service is nothing more than a "server based router farm" using a database of client accounts and private DNS routing tables within a private network instead of the public DNS based routing tables. Since these router farms can be set up in other countries by private firms, they avoid government restrictions and laws on having to turn over your internet browsing history to law enforcement because the countries they operate in don't have restrictive laws.
This is a "laymens" explanation for ease of understanding. It's a bit more complicated and technical than this example gives.
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My experience is that Elite Dangerous does not play nicely with VPNs.
I have never had a problem with Elite using VPN. You may have it misconfigured or your ISP may be preventing your usage. You may also have your network or router set up incorrectly, but I assure you, many thousands of users play Elite using VPN and have no problems at all. I also play other games through VPN and have no issues at all.
hmmm... that assumes, though, that the VPN provider in question has (physical) access nodes close (in hops) to both your ISP and your intended destination, and runs a dedicated network between those nodes (or at the very least some optimized routing not accessible to general traffic).
I use NordVPN and none of the computers I have it installed on will connect to Elite Dangerous while also connected to NordVPN, on any server I've tried.
Not a big deal, I just disconnect from NordVPN.
Quite possibly there is some arcane setting or configuration file or something somewhere I can amend to get it to work. I'm not particularly knowledgeable about network stuff and it's not a problem to just switch it off.
I don't doubt that it works for others with different VPNs and configurations.
But no other game or software or service I have ever used shares this issue. It's only Elite Dangerous. So by requiring any sort of configuration at all, it is, in my limited experience, not playing nicely with my VPN, and uniquely so.
I'm not sure what your getting at?
There are many VPN hosing services. Some with more sites all over the world than others, so if you use a VPN service that does not have servers in those countries of interest, then that is the services limitation. As for the ISP, this can be anywhere and it would make no difference. VPN runs over the internet just like any other protocol, except the data is encrypted between points. NordVPN has dedicated nodes in most countries, and many servers in each. All your ISP knows is that you connected to a VPN server somewhere. I have heard of a few ISP's which host their own VPN services and a few which do not allow connections to VPN unless you use their static IP's to do so. In any event, it would be a rare occurence for both the ISP and VPN service to be restrictive in that way.
Indeed. This is certainly not the case. Since you can NOT skip your own ISP. You will always lengthen the path taken by your data if you use a VPN. Things like dns can be better performing when using a vpn if you have a crappy ISP
Your somewhat confused. I never mentioned skipping your ISP. That's not possible.
All your ISP knows is that you requested to log into a VPN server as far as your ISP logs and network routing are concerned.
Let me try.
Best case: your VPN has a node co-hosted with both your ISP and your target's ISP, and a dedicated leased line (with ample bandwidth) between these nodes. In this case, they basically remove the V from the VPN, they are effectively running a private network.
Worst case: your VPN is a single 8086 machine in a cupboard in Novosibirsk, when you are sitting somewhere in the central US countryside and want to connect to a server on AWS which is physically located on the US east coast.
Either case is somewhat unrealistic, but possible - and both are a VPN scenario. Usually, though, I'd assume that, even if your VPN supplier actually has multiple nodes, they would still be using the same connections between them as anyone else, so you won't get a preferred routing just because you're running over that VPN.