Which VPN has good connection to a Swedish server (from the UK)?
December 26, 2020 4:04 AM Subscribe
Trying to find a VPN that a) connects to a Swedish server and b) has a low server load.
I had a one-day trial with Cyberghost that was fine, but the Swedish server load was 69%, which I understand is quite high. The other popular VPNs don't seem to have one-day trials - you need to sign up and pay to try them out. So before I sign up to a long-term deal, can any current users of VPNs (in the UK if that is actually something that is important) tell me if their VPN has a Swedish server and how much load there is on it? As far as I know, I have no other requirements other than a good Swedish connection (but I have never used a VPN before, so who knows).
I had a one-day trial with Cyberghost that was fine, but the Swedish server load was 69%, which I understand is quite high. The other popular VPNs don't seem to have one-day trials - you need to sign up and pay to try them out. So before I sign up to a long-term deal, can any current users of VPNs (in the UK if that is actually something that is important) tell me if their VPN has a Swedish server and how much load there is on it? As far as I know, I have no other requirements other than a good Swedish connection (but I have never used a VPN before, so who knows).
Best answer: I just took a look at the Swedish servers in NordVPN. They ranged in load from 13% up to about 95% (from 100 or so servers). My Internet speed, which is normally 100Mbps, drops to approx 60Mbps when I'm connected to the fastest one (which the app does automatically). I'm in the UK.
posted by pipeski at 6:36 AM on December 26, 2020
posted by pipeski at 6:36 AM on December 26, 2020
Best answer: I have been using mullvad.net for years and absolutely love them.
They have a good network of exit nodes all over the world but they're actually based in Sweden so they have a ton of servers there. They are extremely competent and highly regarded. They're also cheaper than NordVPN, €5 / month, and they also don't advertise all over creation like NordVPN so I don't feel like I'm having to pay for that ad campaign.
Regarding load, they don't seem to indicate anywhere what the server load is, but I've never personally felt like I was connected to one that was overloaded. I reckon they just load-balance each location behind the curtain.
You can try it out for 3 hours I think for free if you just download the client without generating an account number and they also have a 30-day money-back guarantee if you're not happy with the service.
posted by glonous keming at 9:01 AM on December 26, 2020 [4 favorites]
They have a good network of exit nodes all over the world but they're actually based in Sweden so they have a ton of servers there. They are extremely competent and highly regarded. They're also cheaper than NordVPN, €5 / month, and they also don't advertise all over creation like NordVPN so I don't feel like I'm having to pay for that ad campaign.
Regarding load, they don't seem to indicate anywhere what the server load is, but I've never personally felt like I was connected to one that was overloaded. I reckon they just load-balance each location behind the curtain.
You can try it out for 3 hours I think for free if you just download the client without generating an account number and they also have a 30-day money-back guarantee if you're not happy with the service.
posted by glonous keming at 9:01 AM on December 26, 2020 [4 favorites]
Seconding mullvad. Excellent service, great price.
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 9:52 AM on December 26, 2020
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 9:52 AM on December 26, 2020
Adding to my 3rding Mullvad: the Mozilla VPN is rebranded Mullvad, and I've read that it may be a little cheaper.
posted by anadem at 11:26 AM on December 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by anadem at 11:26 AM on December 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
69% server load being "high" seems weird to me. From looking at the internet, "server load" on a VPN means the percentage of the available bandwidth being used. If this is less than 100%, then bandwidth is being wasted, but if it's too close to 100%, a sudden spike in traffic from users that are connected to the server could result in speed slowdowns. If a VPN provider has a handful of servers to connect to in a particular location, landing on one that's relatively close to capacity doesn't seem bad to me, as long as it provides the speeds you want and doesn't hit 100% load ever.
Having worked on datacenter optimization stuff, the concept of "server load" in this way also seems pretty fake in general, since there are bottlenecks on the server level, but also on the rack level (a "rack" contains man servers, usually around 30, which all get their internet through a "Top-of-Rack switch" or ToR) and in a few more places. So, even if the server you land on is under almost no load, the rack could hit its bandwidth limit, which would slow you down (this assumes that the ToR switch is oversubscribed, which is common, although things can be set up differently).
Also, more generally, I would not trust any VPN provider not to lie about metrics like "server load" — if you're getting speeds you're happy with from a provider, that should be fine, if not, that's a reason to switch.
posted by wesleyac at 4:41 PM on December 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
Having worked on datacenter optimization stuff, the concept of "server load" in this way also seems pretty fake in general, since there are bottlenecks on the server level, but also on the rack level (a "rack" contains man servers, usually around 30, which all get their internet through a "Top-of-Rack switch" or ToR) and in a few more places. So, even if the server you land on is under almost no load, the rack could hit its bandwidth limit, which would slow you down (this assumes that the ToR switch is oversubscribed, which is common, although things can be set up differently).
Also, more generally, I would not trust any VPN provider not to lie about metrics like "server load" — if you're getting speeds you're happy with from a provider, that should be fine, if not, that's a reason to switch.
posted by wesleyac at 4:41 PM on December 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
One benefit of TunnelBear is that they get a 3rd party to do an annual independent security audit and make the results public, if that sort of thing matters to you.
posted by underclocked at 5:05 AM on December 26, 2020