How well does PIA work with Netflix’s Fast.com, the newest competitor to Speedtest.net? Notably, Fast.com runs a faster test than Speedtest does, this is because Fast.com only checks your download speed and doesn’t show upload speed or ping. The coolest thing about Fast.com is that it also running on Netflix’ servers, which means it is a speed test that will give you real information about how well your internet connection works with Netflix. Since its release, thousands upon thousands of people from around the world have found out how fast their internet really is. Being located in Los Angeles, CA, I wanted to test my 300 Mbps connection to see how fast it really is.

Is Private Internet Access VPN Speed Faster According to Netflix’s Fast.com?

Running the test 3 times, I was able to establish a baseline from my home internet connection.

I then ran the test 3 times from the PIA VPN’s US California Gateway.

Similar results can be had from the PIA VPN US West Gateway.

I was able to find even faster results from the PIA VPN US Silicon Valley Gateway.

Just for the sake of science – how fast would it be if I connected to the other side of the country? These were my results when I connected from the PIA VPN US Florida Gateway.

The three closest PIA VPN Gateways to me all test significantly faster when I am connected through the Private Internet Access VPN. Even an exit on the other side of the country is faster. How can this be? Shouldn’t there be extra encryption work, as well as more hops in the process? A potential explanation for what is going on is this – ISP providers, including yours and the one providing internet to the PIA Gateway, often prioritize UDP traffic. I encourage you to run your own tests and post your results and theories. Your results may vary. These results were obtained with Time Warner Cable as the ISP.

So, according to Fast.com (and speedtest.net would return similar results), your internet download speeds for Netflix and other sites are faster when you are connected to a nearby PIA VPN. Which begs me to question: Are you connected right now? Always use protection!

Featured image from Neil Kremer.