# internet slows down when connected to the VPN **URL:** \ **Category:** Pritunl VPN\ **Created:** [February 3, 2025, 7:55am UTC](https://forum.pritunl.com/t/internet-slows-down-when-connected-to-the-vpn/3014 "2025-02-03T07:55:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ctpeter](https://forum.pritunl.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/35a633/32.png) [@ctpeter](https://forum.pritunl.com/u/ctpeter)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 7:55am UTC](https://forum.pritunl.com/t/internet-slows-down-when-connected-to-the-vpn/3014/1 "2025-02-03T07:55:20Z")
My internet slows down when connected to the VPN. Additionally, I experience higher latency and reduced download/upload speeds, which affects my overall browsing and work performance. ---
**Author:** ![zach](https://forum.pritunl.com/user_avatar/forum.pritunl.com/zach/32/1105_2.png) [@zach](https://forum.pritunl.com/u/zach)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 8:30am UTC](https://forum.pritunl.com/t/internet-slows-down-when-connected-to-the-vpn/3014/2 "2025-02-03T08:30:28Z")
The performance of the VPN connection is mostly determined by the CPU speed of both the server and client. In some cases the ChaCha20-Poly1305 encryption cipher may provide better performance, this option is in the server settings. ---
**Author:** ![ctpeter](https://forum.pritunl.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/35a633/32.png) [@ctpeter](https://forum.pritunl.com/u/ctpeter)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 9:44am UTC](https://forum.pritunl.com/t/internet-slows-down-when-connected-to-the-vpn/3014/3 "2025-02-03T09:44:47Z")
Hi @zach Thank you for your reply. For the CPU utilization its below threshold. May I know where I can check this ChaCha20-Poly1305 encryption ---
**Author:** ![zach](https://forum.pritunl.com/user_avatar/forum.pritunl.com/zach/32/1105_2.png) [@zach](https://forum.pritunl.com/u/zach)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2025, 11:55am UTC](https://forum.pritunl.com/t/internet-slows-down-when-connected-to-the-vpn/3014/4 "2025-02-03T11:55:46Z")
It’s in the advanced server settings labeled _Encryption Cipher_. ---
**Author:** ![ctpeter](https://forum.pritunl.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/35a633/32.png) [@ctpeter](https://forum.pritunl.com/u/ctpeter)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 10:04am UTC](https://forum.pritunl.com/t/internet-slows-down-when-connected-to-the-vpn/3014/5 "2025-02-10T10:04:13Z")
Its enabled already but the speedest is still slow ![image](https://forum-static.pritunl.com/original/2X/3/3f11c08990b750e73804f9468265f57c874578db.png) ---
**Author:** ![zach](https://forum.pritunl.com/user_avatar/forum.pritunl.com/zach/32/1105_2.png) [@zach](https://forum.pritunl.com/u/zach)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2025, 6:53pm UTC](https://forum.pritunl.com/t/internet-slows-down-when-connected-to-the-vpn/3014/6 "2025-02-10T18:53:28Z")
Test both AES-128 and ChaCha20-Poly1305 if both are still slow it is likely the server CPU. The single core/thread performance of the CPU has the biggest impact on connection speed. ---
**Author:** ![ctpeter](https://forum.pritunl.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/35a633/32.png) [@ctpeter](https://forum.pritunl.com/u/ctpeter)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2025, 2:20am UTC](https://forum.pritunl.com/t/internet-slows-down-when-connected-to-the-vpn/3014/7 "2025-02-11T02:20:33Z")
Server specs 2 GB RAM, 2 vCPUs, 60 GB SSD ---
**Author:** ![peter\_forrest](https://forum.pritunl.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7cd45c/32.png) [@peter\_forrest](https://forum.pritunl.com/u/peter_forrest)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 9:17am UTC](https://forum.pritunl.com/t/internet-slows-down-when-connected-to-the-vpn/3014/8 "2025-02-25T09:17:59Z")
routing everything through your VPN will always be slow. Set up a split tunnel so that only your VPN traffic goes through your VPN and your general internet browsing goes out your WAN connection. We had to edit the OVPN file on the local machine/device for this to work properly so that the client would ignore some settings given by the server and force it to use the WAN for general WAN traffic. ---
**Author:** ![ctpeter](https://forum.pritunl.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/35a633/32.png) [@ctpeter](https://forum.pritunl.com/u/ctpeter)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 9:30am UTC](https://forum.pritunl.com/t/internet-slows-down-when-connected-to-the-vpn/3014/9 "2025-02-25T09:30:42Z")
Hi @peter_forrest Could you please let me know how to achieve that? ---
**Author:** ![peter\_forrest](https://forum.pritunl.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/7cd45c/32.png) [@peter\_forrest](https://forum.pritunl.com/u/peter_forrest)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://forum.pritunl.com/t/internet-slows-down-when-connected-to-the-vpn/3014/10 "2025-02-25T22:38:05Z")
where exactly are you getting stuck? ---
**Author:** ![ctpeter](https://forum.pritunl.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/35a633/32.png) [@ctpeter](https://forum.pritunl.com/u/ctpeter)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 3:00am UTC](https://forum.pritunl.com/t/internet-slows-down-when-connected-to-the-vpn/3014/11 "2025-02-26T03:00:35Z")
We already upgraded the server to latest version but still it’s slow. I want to achieve the recommednation you have ---
**Author:** ![cbailey](https://forum.pritunl.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@cbailey](https://forum.pritunl.com/u/cbailey)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2025, 4:41am UTC](https://forum.pritunl.com/t/internet-slows-down-when-connected-to-the-vpn/3014/12 "2025-03-31T04:41:07Z")
You’re also setting the tunnel to use TCP for traffic - that may be having issues with Packet loss, which causes issues on the VPN connection. Try using UDP for all VPN Traffic (it still lets the tunnel take TCP traffic inside that tunnel)