The odd-musings of Jared, the Director of Network Security for IAPS Security Services.

Folks many, many of you have come to me and asked how you could improve your speed while using vpn and ssh services. I’ve compiled the minimum possible hardware and internet service provider (local) speeds for you to get an idea.

Minimum Standards:

Windows XP or Windows Vista
Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz or AMD Equivalency
2 GB Ram DDR2 or Better
Local ISP Speed of 2 MB/s Minimum

Recommended Standards:

Windows XP or Windows Vista
Intel Pentium Dual or Quad-Core
4 GB RAM DDR2 or Better
Local ISP Speed of 4 MB/s

Another thing to look at is how many programs you have running at the same. If you have several programs running, either in the background or system process, shut them down. If you are a Windows Vista user shut down that pesky User Account Control. Here are instructions for shutting off that worthless User Account Control:

Vista Users Only:

1.) Click on your Start Button
2.) Click on Control Panel
3.) Click on User Accounts
4.) Click on “Turn User Account Control On/Off

Reboot to make the changes effective.

Another issue I see is that several of you are under the impression that you can be 5,000 or more miles away from your vpn server and still expect local isp speeds. Folks, thats never possible. If your sitting in Thailand with a 2 MB/s local in-country speed and your vpn is somewhere in Europe you can’t reasonably expect blazing speeds at your local connection rate. When connected to your vpn server your bypassing your local isp’s service and using whats considered a foreign network. The routes from Asia to Europe are exceptionally long and Asian countries are not known for their great internet speeds. Keep this in mind when traveling. Remember, local speeds and international speeds are two very different categories. What your local isp advertises as 5 MB/s only applies to in-country service. This speed has no relevance to international destinations.

Another thing is Windows Firewall. I see this issue all the time folks. Most people I’ve met in this business have no real clue how their firewall works nor how to configure it. Most firewalls have an option to allow passthrough/exception rules for vpn services. I’ll make a post at a later time explaining that. In most cases, either temporarily disable and try connecting again, or make the modifications to the firewall yourself if your feeling brave enough. Its not all that hard and can take as little as 30 seconds to get it done.