OpenVPN Private Internet Access Slower when upgraded from 2.1.5 to 2.2

archedraft

What HW are we talking about? Just meaningless questions without any info.

I suppose but can't see how hardware is the problem if everything was running fine with 2.1.5?

I have tried this on two different setups with the same results (Below are the Specs:)

Setup #1:
Dell OptiPlex GX270
Pentium 4
1 GB of Ram
32 bit version of pfSense 2.1.5 -> 2.2

Setup #2
KVM Virtual Machine
Intel i7-3770s 3.10GHz (1 Core)
1 GB of Ram
64 Bit version of pfSense 2.1.5 -> 2.2

Again both setups run great with PIA getting around 90 - 100 Mbps on 2.1.5 but when I upgraded them to 2.2 I am getting around 20 - 30 Mbps download. It could be that the settings changed enough from 2.1.5 to 2.2 and I have one (or more) of the settings wrong for PIA (I have tried changing a bunch but nothing helps). If anyone has PIA up and running and getting speeds above 30 Mbps it would be nice if you would take a screen shot of your settings so I can compare. ;D

archedraft

Help I need somebody! 8) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUncwY4SBOA

charliem

Can you clarify whether you 1) have set up an OpenVPN client connection from your pfSense box to a PIA server, or 2) are using a PIA client on one of your LAN PCs (say a windows machine)? I assume (1), but just want to confirm.

Have you already tried connecting to an alternate PIA server (say us-east rather than us-west)? Can you detail some of the 'bunch of settings' you've tried?

archedraft

@charliem:

Can you clarify whether you 1) have set up an OpenVPN client connection from your pfSense box to a PIA server, or 2) are using a PIA client on one of your LAN PCs (say a windows machine)? I assume (1), but just want to confirm.

Have you already tried connecting to an alternate PIA server (say us-east rather than us-west)? Can you detail some of the 'bunch of settings' you've tried?

Option #1.

Yes I have tried connecting to other PIA servers but all are slower on pfsense 2.2 (~40 Mbps). I friend has the exact setup as myself (as I set it up) and is still running 2.1.5 and has been getting the expected download speeds through the PIA VPN (~90 Mbps).

I've noticed in pfsense 2.2 that "Auth Digest Algorithm" was added and I have it set to SHA1 (I have tried most of the other settings as well just to test but either its around the same speed or it doesn't work at all).

I have also spent 3 weeks going back and forth with the PIA "support" but they were not any help in the end. After their standard tests of trying multiple TCP / UDP ports they sent me to advance support which told me that they would have to have their "development" team look into pfsense 2.2 to see if the settings had changed. I have not heard back from them in over a month.

coolspot

Same here, I'm about 40mbps as well using PIA. However, from my desktop computer, I can hit >100mbps.

I don't think my pfSense box CPU is saturated? Here is the TOP dump:

last pid: 15026; load averages: 1.02, 0.61, 0.43 up 19+02:05:29 14:33:57
210 processes: 7 running, 177 sleeping, 26 waiting
CPU: % user, % nice, % system, % interrupt, % idle
Mem: 28M Active, 179M Inact, 542M Wired, 465M Buf, 7172M Free
Swap: 16G Total, 16G Free

PID USERNAME PRI NICE SIZE RES STATE C TIME WCPU COMMAND
11 root 155 ki31 0K 64K CPU2 2 440.2H 79.05% idle{idle: cpu2}
11 root 155 ki31 0K 64K CPU0 0 432.5H 78.66% idle{idle: cpu0}
11 root 155 ki31 0K 64K RUN 3 446.5H 76.56% idle{idle: cpu3}
11 root 155 ki31 0K 64K RUN 1 443.6H 68.16% idle{idle: cpu1}
28854 root 52 0 21728K 5752K select 0 1:06 58.40% openvpn

Running on a D525, Dual-Core Atom.

archedraft

Sweet! I am happy to hear that I am not alone! I know for sure that my CPU is not over-saturated, my pfSense has 1 core dedicated from my i7.

So now the question is what changed from 2.1.5 to 2.2?

archedraft

Is there anyone out there running pfSense 2.2 with Private Internet Access and getting download speeds higher than 40 Mbps?

AND/OR

Is there anyone out there running pfSense 2.2 with any other VPN service and getting download speeds higher than 40 Mbps?

If Yes, would you please take a screen shot of your current VPN settings and post them here to compare?

theeddie

@archedraft:

Is there anyone out there running pfSense 2.2 with Private Internet Access and getting download speeds higher than 40 Mbps?

AND/OR

Is there anyone out there running pfSense 2.2 with any other VPN service and getting download speeds higher than 40 Mbps?

If Yes, would you please take a screen shot of your current VPN settings and post them here to compare?

I am almost positive the are capping me at 40mbit on pia

Retrieving speedtest.net configuration…
Retrieving speedtest.net server list...
Testing from SoftLayer Technologies (50.97.94.58)...
Selecting best server based on latency...
Hosted by SoftLayer Technologies, Inc. (Dallas, TX) [0.26 km]: 22.63 ms
Testing download speed….....................................
Download: 31.63 Mbits/s

archedraft

@theeddie:

I am almost positive the are capping me at 40mbit on pia

What version of pfSense are you running?

theeddie

2.2.2

theeddie

are you running aes 128
or blowfish? I noticed a 9% increase in speed with aes still havn't broke 40mbit

Testing download speed….....................................
Download: 33.98 Mbits/s
blow
Testing download speed........................................
Download: 36.23 Mbits/s
aes 128

someuser123

am getting 118Mbps on 105Mbps down

its been consistent.

pfsense: 2.2.2
HW: i5-8gb ram
VPN: PIA
OpenVPN: AES128

Had same results on bf-cbc and on pfsense 2.1.5 or older.
using PIA for around 2 years now.

theeddie

root@plex:~ # speedtest –source 10.0.0.23
Retrieving speedtest.net configuration...
Retrieving speedtest.net server list...
Testing from Choopa, LLC (108.61.19.3)...
Selecting best server based on latency...
Hosted by Atlantic Metro (New York City, NY) [39.30 km]: 76.304 ms
Testing download speed….....................................
Download: 10.07 Mbits/s
Testing upload speed..................................................
Upload: 13.93 Mbits/s

I changed to east coast

archedraft

@someuser123:

am getting 118Mbps on 105Mbps down

its been consistent.

pfsense: 2.2.2
HW: i5-8gb ram
VPN: PIA
OpenVPN: AES128

Had same results on bf-cbc and on pfsense 2.1.5 or older.
using PIA for around 2 years now.

would you mind taking some screenshots of your vpn client settings? I tried to change mine from bf-cbc to all the four aes128 options but it didn't connect right. I must be missing something.

theeddie

@archedraft:

@someuser123:

am getting 118Mbps on 105Mbps down

its been consistent.

pfsense: 2.2.2
HW: i5-8gb ram
VPN: PIA
OpenVPN: AES128

Had same results on bf-cbc and on pfsense 2.1.5 or older.
using PIA for around 2 years now.

would you mind taking some screenshots of your vpn client settings? I tried to change mine from bf-cbc to all the four aes128 options but it didn't connect right. I must be missing something.

cbc is port 1194
aes is port 1196

archedraft

@theeddie:

cbc is port 1194
aes is port 1196

Well AES with port 1196 seems to work a little better but it still maxes out around 40 Mbps.

@someuser123:

am getting 118Mbps on 105Mbps down

its been consistent.

pfsense: 2.2.2
HW: i5-8gb ram
VPN: PIA
OpenVPN: AES128

Had same results on bf-cbc and on pfsense 2.1.5 or older.
using PIA for around 2 years now.

I would still really like to see a screen shot your client VPN settings, just to compare our settings.

someuser123

its pretty much basic openvpn settings

archedraft

Thanks for posting. The only different settings we had was the compression. I disabled the compression but I am still only getting 20 - 40 Mbps download. I even tried the us-east server just for fun but same results. Talked with PIA support and was told that they don't limit the download speed, but it could be due to the amount of new VPN users over the last few months. That does not explain how @someuser123 has been getting over 100 Mbps consistently and others have been below 40 Mbps… Not sure what to try next.

someuser123

You might want to try out this,
Disable openvpn (PIA client ) on pfsense. Install PIA desktop app and check the speed. If you get down speed same as ISP speed then its your pfsense 2.2.2 configuration issue, if not then its PIA.

If nothing works per your satisfaction, format and try fresh 2.2.2 setup and just configure openvpn. or revert back to 2.1.5 until next version fixes your problem.

btw what is your actual ISP download speed?

archedraft

@someuser123:

You might want to try out this,
Disable openvpn (PIA client ) on pfsense. Install PIA desktop app and check the speed. If you get down speed same as ISP speed then its your pfsense 2.2.2 configuration issue, if not then its PIA.

If nothing works per your satisfaction, format and try fresh 2.2.2 setup and just configure openvpn. or revert back to 2.1.5 until next version fixes your problem.

btw what is your actual ISP download speed?

My Actual ISP speed is 100 Mbps down. I have been testing the speed throughout the day and it's been better. This morning it was around 50 Mbps and it stayed around there for a few hours. Now I am getting around 75 Mbps… my only thought is that PIA has been experiencing a larger user base than normal and the servers cannot handle the load and maybe they just happen to be addressing the issue today? Other than that why would my server all of the sudden start getting better speeds after 3+ months of being between 30-40? It doesn't seem likely that pfSense 2.2 is the culprit or why would it get better all of the sudden...