Speed Tests

[#1]

Just doing 'mtr' will run indefinitely, until you  <Ctrl>C  to stop it.

I tend to run the command something like -

mtr -r -w -c 10 bbc.co.uk

where -

• -r        produces a report when it ends
• -w       displays complete URLs that might otherwise get truncated
• -c 10   is a count of the number of times you want to ping, to see the spread of times and packet loss

You can look at the 'manual' for 'mtr' by -

man mtr

[#2]

OK... so here is the first traceroute morsecode.dyndns.org    WITH THE VPN RUNNING ON PN SITE

Here is traceroute morsecode.dyndns.org    WITHOUT THE VPN...

Speed test result from home to Gosport    WITHOUT VPN

Speed test as above....but WITH USING THE VPN TO GERMANY and back to Gosport

[#3]

Hmm - I'll have to think about that.  They look to be almost identical, which I wasn't expecting... it looks like the trace route didn't actually go over the VPN ... ?   Not sure I know enough to comment about that, as I said will have a think....

@Anonymous @RealAleMadrid @greygit1 - any thoughts?

[#4]

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@shutter wrote:

OK... so here is the first traceroute morsecode.dyndns.org    WITH THE VPN RUNNING ON PN SITE

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Is this with "Switched in a freeby VPN ( Courtesy of Firefox Addons )" as per the OP?

Does it only send web traffic via the VPN?

[#5]

@TheRoadCrew 

Yes, it is a "free" VPN... from the Add-Ons with Firefox    

Urban VPN proxy

I use it to access Live German T.V. stations , as a few of them are "not available in your country"..

I can "switch" it in or out, on an icon on the top menu bar.

Will PM you the "write up" from the Firefox Add-ons page, if you want to know what it does/doesn`t do !

[#6]

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@shutter wrote:

@TheRoadCrew 

Yes, it is a "free" VPN... from the Add-Ons with Firefox    

Urban VPN proxy

I can "switch" it in or out, on an icon on the top menu bar.

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Ahh ok - my lack of knowledge / experience sorry...  the VPN is only accessible/usable via the firefox browser then,  so I'm not sure how we can see what's happening.

[#7]

I'm not sure how much more I can contribute to this but I found this web site talking about VPN speeds - make of it what you will...

www.security.org vpn speed tests 

Can VPNs Boost Internet Speeds?

We tested VPN speeds a total of 120 times for this guide. We have a pretty good sample size, so you can trust us when we say that VPNs don’t normally boost internet speeds. Our upload speed and download speed went down whenever we connected to a VPN. At the same time, the latency increased.

There’s a reason for that speed drop. VPNs encrypt your traffic, and that additional process shaves off some of your internet speed. VPNs also reroute your traffic through one of their servers. Just as adding a bathroom break to your journey won’t shorten your travel time, adding an extra stop to your online traffic’s route will only result in delays. As short as those delays may be, they are still delays.

There is one exception though. If your ISP is throttling your internet, using a VPN could make your connection faster. ISP throttling is when your provider purposely limits your speed when accessing the internet or some sites. Some ISPs do it when you exceed your monthly data cap or bandwidth limit; in those cases, a VPN unfortunately can’t help you. 

Others throttle internet speeds for more controversial reasons, such as to discourage access to a certain service and drive users toward alternative services that benefit the ISP or its partners. If that’s your case, using a VPN will hide your internet traffic from your ISP. Without knowing what you’re doing online, your ISP won’t be able to limit your access.

[#8]

I refer you back to your observation.

"They look to be almost identical, which I wasn't expecting... it looks like the trace route didn't actually go over the VPN ... ?"

Although ...

(removes splinters after scratching head)

The VPN is a virtual network interface. The physical network interface will still be there.

Could there be a command line switch which specifies the interface it is going to use? And if that isn't specified it defaults to use the physical network interface?

Otherwise I'm out of ideas.

[#9]

From what I can see is Urban VPN is a browser extension so it would only hide the IP address for the browser being used.

So testing on a ubuntu mint install I have two browsers one Chrome with urban VPN installed and Firefox with no extensions

With the VPN extension running, 'what's my IP address' shows

Chrome - VPN server IP address and location.

Firefox - my public IP Address and location.

From my research urban VPN does not have a version with support for any variant of Linux.

[#10]

@greygit1   The traceroute isn't going via the VPN because as @TheRoadCrew pointed out the VPN runs from within the Firefox browser, so I believe the VPN is only used when you are in/using the browser - anything done outside the browser doesn't go through the VPN I guess.   When @shutter ran the Speed Test with Ookla I believe he would have done it from within the browser and hence could use the VPN.

The other thing I read from a random web site was that the connection over VPN can in some circumstance be shorter and better performing, depending on where you are, where the VPN servers are, where the Speed Test servers are and how they are interconnected... I had hoped we could see some of that with the traceroute.

The other things that can impact the speed test would be encryption, compression, packet sizes, window sizes, processing speeds of any servers involved and the use of IPv4 or IPv6...  but we would need a lot more knowledge of the network and network traces to try to figure out what is going on here. 

Beyond my experience - so may be way off beam....  perhaps it's time for me to keep quiet..!!

[#11]

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@Dan_the_Van wrote:

From my research urban VPN does not have a version with support for any variant of Linux.

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It does have a windows variant - so if it is Urban VPN that @shutter  is using in Firefox I could download the windows version and see if I get the same speed test results, then have a look at the tracert results.  

Anyone know if urban VPN is reputable, safe to download and what the trade off is for a "Free" VPN?

[#12]

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@Ian06 wrote: 

Anyone know if urban VPN is reputable, safe to download and what the trade off is for a "Free" VPN?

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This is what the browser add-on says.....

To enable us to provide you with our safe browsing and VPN services, we need to access and collect certain information, such as: URLs you click, the ads displayed for you and your interaction with the ads, history, click stream data, and IP address.

In addition, subject to your consent through the prominent notice, we will be accessing and collecting your web browsing data that includes information on:

- search engine results page

- web pages visited

- clicked stream data

- information about the content that you viewed (the ad campaign)

- information about where you viewed the content (website, app, or extension).

We share this web browsing data in an aggregated, anonymized format with our affiliated companies and business partners for commercial use.

We wish to make it clear, we do not want to know your identity, preferences or any information about you personally, all as detailed in the privacy policy (https://www.urban-vpn.com/about-us/privacy/)

Gawd knows what the Windows version would be scraping.... 🤔

[#13]

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@Ian06 wrote:

[...]

The other things that can impact the speed test would be encryption, compression, packet sizes, window sizes, processing speeds of any servers involved and the use of IPv4 or IPv6...  but we would need a lot more knowledge of the network and network traces to try to figure out what is going on here. 

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Just an afterthought, @shutter does your 4G router have any kind of Quality of Service controls that might be prioritising VPN traffic? I'm also wondering if 3's TrafficSense has anything to do with this.

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@Ian06 wrote:

Beyond my experience - so may be way off beam....  perhaps it's time for me to keep quiet..!!

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I'm beginning to feel that way too 🙄

[#14]

@TheRoadCrew  Yes. it does have a page fo QoS settings... will PM you a copy of it ....

[#15]

@Dan_the_Van  said

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@Dan_the_Van wrote:

From what I can see is Urban VPN is a browser extension so it would only hide the IP address for the browser being used.

YES ... it is a browser extension from/via Firefox

From my research urban VPN does not have a version with support for any variant of Linux.

However, I am running Linux Mint 21.2 with FIrefox provided by Linux ......

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