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    OpenVPN Private Internet Access Slower when upgraded from 2.1.5 to 2.2

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved OpenVPN
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    • C
      charliem
      last edited by

      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?

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      • A
        archedraft
        last edited by

        @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.

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        • C
          coolspot
          last edited by

          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.

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          • A
            archedraft
            last edited by

            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?

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            • A
              archedraft
              last edited by

              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?

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              • T
                theeddie
                last edited by

                @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

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                • A
                  archedraft
                  last edited by

                  @theeddie:

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

                  What version of pfSense are you running?

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                  • T
                    theeddie
                    last edited by

                    2.2.2

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                    • T
                      theeddie
                      last edited by

                      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

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                      • S
                        someuser123
                        last edited by

                        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.

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                        • T
                          theeddie
                          last edited by

                          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

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                          • A
                            archedraft
                            last edited by

                            @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.

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                            • T
                              theeddie
                              last edited by

                              @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

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                              • A
                                archedraft
                                last edited by

                                @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.

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                                • S
                                  someuser123
                                  last edited by

                                  its pretty much basic openvpn settings

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                                  • A
                                    archedraft
                                    last edited by

                                    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.

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                                    • S
                                      someuser123
                                      last edited by

                                      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?

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                                      • A
                                        archedraft
                                        last edited by

                                        @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...

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • T
                                          theeddie
                                          last edited by

                                          Im in the same boat as you archedraft please post here if you figure anything out and i will do the same

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • T
                                            theeddie
                                            last edited by

                                            also i forgot to add.  I have since switch to the proxy server on pia and i get 180mbit to it.  I am guessing the vpn is just overloaded

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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