Do GPNs or VPNs really reduce ping?

karliahquinn

In New Zealand, my ping is about 400 which means I have trouble reach optimal dps in trials. It has been suggested I try a VPN, has anyone had success with having their ping reduced using these or a GPN? This is on EU, on NA it's 250 but after 4.5 years playing EU I don't want to switch.

jcm2606

It's really hit or miss, but in my experience, it helped dramatically. The premise is basically that if your ISP or some intermediate service (ie Akamai's DDoS protection) is screwing with how traffic is routed to the servers, causing your ping to be abnormally high, a VPN can potentially force your traffic to take a more optimal route to the servers.

A VPN will only help if your ping is in any way affected by sub-optimal routing, and only if the impact is high enough. If your ISP has good routing, or you're not affected by intermediate services screwing with traffic routing, a VPN will not help, and may in fact hurt your ping as it's introducing another point of failure. If the impact isn't that high (ie your ISP has decent routing that could be better, but doesn't hurt your ping that much), you may find your ping being slightly higher due to the added overhead of the VPN.

In my experience, though, it helped a ton. From around October last year until September/October this year, Oceanic users were pushed into a new Akamai data center located in Singapore, which added 100+ms onto our ping. A lot of users found success in using VPN's such as WTFast, ExitLag, or Mudfish, which would bypass the Singapore data center, and drop our traffic off directly in the US, which shaved most of the added ping off.

This was really hit or miss, though, as some users didn't find much success in using these VPN's, and a few even found that it increased their ping. Generally, though, it did seem to help most users, and it certainly helped me.

karliahquinn

jcm2606 wrote: »

It's really hit or miss, but in my experience, it helped dramatically. The premise is basically that if your ISP or some intermediate service (ie Akamai's DDoS protection) is screwing with how traffic is routed to the servers, causing your ping to be abnormally high, a VPN can potentially force your traffic to take a more optimal route to the servers.

A VPN will only help if your ping is in any way affected by sub-optimal routing, and only if the impact is high enough. If your ISP has good routing, or you're not affected by intermediate services screwing with traffic routing, a VPN will not help, and may in fact hurt your ping as it's introducing another point of failure. If the impact isn't that high (ie your ISP has decent routing that could be better, but doesn't hurt your ping that much), you may find your ping being slightly higher due to the added overhead of the VPN.

In my experience, though, it helped a ton. From around October last year until September/October this year, Oceanic users were pushed into a new Akamai data center located in Singapore, which added 100+ms onto our ping. A lot of users found success in using VPN's such as WTFast, ExitLag, or Mudfish, which would bypass the Singapore data center, and drop our traffic off directly in the US, which shaved most of the added ping off.

This was really hit or miss, though, as some users didn't find much success in using these VPN's, and a few even found that it increased their ping. Generally, though, it did seem to help most users, and it certainly helped me.

Thank you so much! I'll sign up to Mudfish for a trial and see if it helps

Vapirko

Ive had success from SE Asia with Mudfish which usually reduces it by a decent amount but more importantly it stabilizes my connection. Ive also measured the number of stops to the server with and without. Without its like 20+ stops and with Mudfish it was around 4. It just cuts way down on the amount of packet loss and potential problems along the way. Ive also tried WTFast, Exit Lag, Battle Ping etc. For me personally, Mudfish has always worked the best and was the cheapest by far. You should try a few as they all have free trials, and Mudfish is pay as you play so you can get like 40GB for 5 USD which will last you months with ESO. So at worst they dont help but you really wont spend anything trying it out.

I also use a free program called TCP Optimizer which makes a bunch of reg edit changes automatically and is very easy to switch back to default. But it alters the way packets and data are handled and seems to make some improvements under the hood for gaming. Easy to use, easy to put everything back the way it was if you dont like it.

This all assumes youre using a wired connection, have made the appropriate tweaks to your router and so on.

nafensoriel

Do a traceroute to the server.
If the route looks really wonky then a VPN might help.
If the route is very logical it probably wont.

To define a wonky route there was a really bad problem with ISPs in the city of Calgary in Canada where they would get routed through Chicago to communicate with California. In this case, a VPN drastically reduced latency because it halved the distance to communicate.

Siohwenoeht

nafensoriel wrote: »

Do a traceroute to the server.
If the route looks really wonky then a VPN might help.
If the route is very logical it probably wont.

To define a wonky route there was a really bad problem with ISPs in the city of Calgary in Canada where they would get routed through Chicago to communicate with California. In this case, a VPN drastically reduced latency because it halved the distance to communicate.

I've seen trace routes for ESO that run from London, then Germany, Brussels, Boston then back to London. All because of akamai.

CelticStones

I used mudfish for a couple of months here in the Far North, it was a case of give it a go, its only 3 bucks. Dropped my ping from 400-450+ down to 250-280. Now we are not routing to Germany/Holland/UK to get to North America, the ping is fairly stable at 250ish without mudfish. If your ping is still high, give it a go, its cheap, data based charges. Be prepared for more disconnects with mudfish, that was the only problem we had with it.

GlorphNoldorin

I have the best success with exitlag then mudfish although the difference between mudfish and exitlag is pretty stark.

The ping is lower but there is still lag and often when ping is reading as ok.

I still feel better using a vpn.

MrGarlic

From NZ to EU you are going to not get much better than 320-350 ms due to distance. However a VPN can help with routing stability so might actually cut a little bit off your ping.

It's definitely worth a try, but don't expect a great drop, especially if your routing with your ISP is already optimal or close to it.

Also to consider is the direction of your routing. If you are being routed through Asia to Europe then congestion could be an issue,. if so then using a VPN node in the USA could enforce the route across the pacific where there is less traffic.

Good luck. I would be interested in your results.

jcm2606

MrGarlic wrote: »

From NZ to EU you are going to not get much better than 320-350 ms due to distance. However a VPN can help with routing stability so might actually cut a little bit off your ping.

It's definitely worth a try, but don't expect a great drop, especially if your routing with your ISP is already optimal or close to it.

Also to consider is the direction of your routing. If you are being routed through Asia to Europe then congestion could be an issue,. if so then using a VPN node in the USA could enforce the route across the pacific where there is less traffic.

Good luck. I would be interested in your results.

This is also a good point. Try not to just download and install a VPN, log in, see it doesn't help much, then immediately uninstall. Try playing around with some settings, to see what works best for your connection.