Private Internet Access VPN on 4k Firestick

Chumpalot

Newbie
Evening all,

So I'm using the above VPN on my 4k Firestick. Speeds are a little on the slow side when connected especially when compared to what I manage to get when the VPN is turned off.

I'm on a BT fibre connection of around 60mbps. If I do a speediest on the Firestick with the VPN disconnected I get pretty close to this, around 50-55mbps. Once I connect the VPN the maximum I've manage to get is 21mbps. I have tried connecting to many different locations, the quickest of which are London, Spain and Netherlands. I have tried Manchester and Southampton which give similar speeds.

I have PIA installed on my phone and when I run a speedtest on this I get 60mbps whether I'm connected via VPN or not. I would expect to see this same performance/behaviour on the Firestick.

I briefly spoke to PIA's online support and to be honest they weren't particularly helpful. They admitted that they don't currently support the new generation of Firesticks but perhaps will in the future. They also rambled on about contention even when I said I'd ruled this out.

The Firestick is connected via WiFi to my router. I will look to cable this soon but as I'm able to achieve 50+mbps over WiFi I'm not sure if this is the issue.

Anyone else had this or can shed any light?

Cheers
 
So a bit of reading suggests it might be because the Firestick isn't powerful enough to work at that level of encryption (but my phone is?). Could this be it perhaps?
 
They say connect to the closest server to you are you using it on wifi or via ethanet adaptor for firesticks mate try different locations attached to London mate
 
Hi baz, yeah I'm connecting to London. That's where I get the best speeds but still only around 21mb.

Currently connected via wifi but will look to change this soon to a cable.
 
I thought that but how come I can get much faster speeds when I disconnect the VPN? I know there always some slowdown with VPNs but losing 40mb is a bit much.
 
Vpns can dramatically decrease speeds when connected so when you disconnected the vpn speeds improve plus depends what speeds the firestick is actually running at without/with the vpn active
 
I may however need it for things like movies and other content I do not own.

And I hate Coronation St....
In all fairness if using kodi for movies tv shows then yes but if for general TV like iptv or bbci player no wouldn't bother only when football is on but if you feel its better for a vpn then that's entirely upto you but a lot of isp just use scare tactics
 
Nope, you dont need it for vod or normal channels like sky movies etc, the isp's had a court order served on them to block illegal streaming when EPL is showing, not Star Wars etc, the injunction was sought by EPL, they cant force isp to completely block streaming because they have no commercial interest in Rugby, F1 or anything else
 
Nope, you dont need it for vod or normal channels like sky movies etc, the isp's had a court order served on them to block illegal streaming when EPL is showing, not Star Wars etc, the injunction was sought by EPL, they cant force isp to completely block streaming because they have no commercial interest in Rugby, F1 or anything else

Didnt know that. Thanks for the info.
 
I was going to post a similar question about VPNs on 4k firestick as mine are doing the same.
In the end I got hold of an Asus router and use that as an openVPN client to connect to Surfshark.
 
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