Internet slowdown after logging on to VPN

[bmarch]

I have FIOS internet with an Actiontec MI424WR router.  My employer uses a Juniper 7.3.0 VPN.  On both my personal and company laptops, my internet connection speed drops dramatically (from 25 Mbs to 0.5 Mbs) after I log on to the VPN.  I have no trouble connecting to the VPN, but the internet connection suddenly becomes so slow that I cannot perform any work.  I have my router firewall set to Minimum, and still am experiencing the problem.  I live in Rhode Island.  Does anyone have any ideas?

[Anti-Phish1]

• Can you run a speedtest from a different computer while the VPN is connected?

e.g.  With the VPN connected on the work computer, what speedtest results do you get from your personal laptop (without the VPN)?

• How are you measuring the speed on the computer with the VPN connected?

[bmarch]

 1. When running a speedtest from a different computer which is NOT connected to the VPN (my personal desktop) while the personal or work laptop IS connected to the VPN, the internet speed is fast (25 Mbs)

2. I am measuring speed on the computer with the VPN connected by going to speedtest.net

I should also add that this is my first attempt to logon to my employer's VPN using FIOS.

[smith6612]

What kind of connectivity is your employer running for their VPN? In many scenarios, when you connect up to the VPN your traffic will be subject to how fast the path is between you and the VPN concentrator, and it will also be subject to how good of a connection your employer has, and their bandwidth policies. Basically, if your employer is using a DSL modem to connect up to the Internet, the DSL connection hosting the VPN is your bottleneck. For the employer to deliver 25Mbps/25Mbps to you over a VPN effectively, they need double of that (50Mbps/50Mbps) to allow the VPN to not be the bottleneck under the most heavy use cases.

Also, if the VPN uses UDP for transport instead of TCP, packet loss can absolutely destroy your connection speeds. Not only is VPN traffic being lost, data being carried in the VPN is also lost. This can cause problems with retransmits and time-outs in some scenarios.

One final note, if your employer has a slow connection and it just so happens to be saturated while you are using the VPN, performance will drop like a rock. VPNs do not work well on saturated connections or poor quality connections.