Slow speed 4G wifi through a vpn

[Fintan3]

Hi, I recently installed an external antenna for EE 4G wifi.  Getting 30 - 40 meg download in my house on all my personal devices (Netflix, Kids I-pads and personal laptop) via wifi.  All good.

However my work laptop connects through my wifi to a VPN (f5).  Speeds are sometimes as low as 0.8 meg download when my personal laptop (not through the VPN) sitting beside my work laptop is getting 38 meg download.  

My work IT department is saying it is EE who may be throttling my download speed over VPN's.  I'm not an IT person so asking the question if anyone can enlighten me on this issue.

[Chris_B]

@Fintan3   I think you’ll find it’s the VPN as you’re working through their systems and it’s their speeds that they allow you to work at and if you’re not paying for the premium service they will throttle your speeds. 

EE don’t control your network speed because your using a VPN.  Because  you’re not connected to the VPN first you connected to the EE network then the VPN and then it’s the VPN to wherever that’s going.  

[EssexBoyEE]

Don't compare speeds between two different Laptops, you should be comparing speeds on the Laptop that your VPN is installed on and then by switching the VPN on and off..

[Fintan3]

Thanks for the reply Chris. 

My IT department are saying it is EE who may be throttling the speed / bandwidth to VPN's as other staff using the VPN are not having the speed issues I am experiencing.  They say the restriction is on the connection from my ISP (EE 4G) to their VPN.  They said that whilst EE are providing 30 meg speeds that they can restrict speed to certain systems.  In lay mans terms they say EE will give full speed to general traffic but only have a limited speed for traffic to VPN's, or perhaps more specifically to the f5 VPN my employer uses.  They have put the ball back in my court to take it up with EE.  Any views on where I go to prove who is right?

[Fintan3]

Thanks for the reply.

I don't think I can turn the VPN off as my employer has my work laptop locked down to IT department only.  I cant even download an app without IT department permissions. I do use my laptop at various locations and speed is generally OK if I am in the office (still on wifi but not my EE home system).

[Chris_B]

@Fintan3  ER doesn’t care that you’re using a VPN and will not slow your speed because of it.  Your still using the same network it just goes through a VPN and it’s the speed that the VPN allow you to have is what your issue is. 

[Fintan3]

Thanks Chris,

I will go back to my IT department.  I fear I am going to get a run around where my IT say all other staff are OK so its not the VPN and EE say I am getting 30 meg to other devices not using the VPN so its not the ISP.

I suppose given the significance of the difference of going from 30 meg to less than 1 meg indicates a conflict somewhere between EE and the f5 VPN.

Thanks for your input.

[EssexBoyEE]

Does your IT Dept have Remote Control of your Laptop, in which case ask them to remotely disable your VPN in order to do the Test (speed test with VPN on or off) or get them to do the Test for you.

This Test would be the first thing I would be doing rather than saying it's an EE Throttle issue. It proves several things in the Chain, the Laptop, the VPN, the 4G Router, EE Network, in other words it's proving whether the Laptop has issues with the WiFi only Speeds when you switch the VPN on or off, or whether the VPN Settings are compatible with your Router Settings

[Fintan3]

Thanks for the suggestion.  Sounds very sensible.  I will contact our IT and ask that they do this as a test.