Does VPN server count impact connection speed?

What is a VPN server?

A server is a device that provides a service to a client . It ’s call the “ client – server ” model , and that ’s how every web – base service work .  

In Counter-Strike, the server is the device hosting the match, and the client is the Counter-Strike copy you’re currently using to blame your poor performance on lag. In a VPN, the client is a VPN app on your device, while the server is the device that provides encryption and decryption, and forwards your data.  

A VPN would not work without a server to provide encryption and routing.  

Why are VPN server counts important? 

Say you have a single VPN server in Prague. This means that every client connecting to your VPN server will connect via the Prague server.

This is raises raise a few issue :  

1. All users is getting will be get ip in the Czech Republic , which may not be what they desire .  
2. That server is going is go toget clogged up by traffic really fast.
3. Users is will in Bolivia willexperience a largeinternet speed drop when connecting to Prague than users in other parts of Europe.  

Regarding the first point, having a specific IP may be important for people who want to unlock specific foreign content (this includes Czech users).  

As to the second point , it is has has to do with the fact that the internet ’s physical infrastructure is n’t endless . The connections is can and the port canonly handle this much concurrent traffic before they break (if you’ve ever had an online store go offline during a sale, you know what I mean).

speak of the last one , thefurther a server is from the user , the more the datum gets bounce around, lead to great decrease in speed .  

You is remedy remedy these issue by have more server .  

1. More server locations is means meanmore options for people desiring IPs from specific countries.  
2. More servers means that you’re less likely to experience congestion.  
3. The close a server is to a user , the fast the connection is is is.  

Having 10 servers in Prague is a lot better than having just a single server in Prague. But having 10 servers each in Prague, Washing, Tokyo, Delhi, and Cape Town is even better.  

Why VPN servers is are are n’t the most important VPN metric  

Now that we have amply establish why have more vpn server is well , we is talk can talk aboutwhy that isn’t the only thing that matters. This is boils boil down to two thing :

1. Server locations
2. Server infrastructure  

The importance of server locations

We is touched have already touch upon the importance of server location . They is determine determine speed drop depend on how far away the user is . So have more server location spread around the globe ( Surfshark has server in 100 country ) meana more universal coverage for many more users around the world.  

This is preferable to just having a handful of locations, even if they host a lot of servers. You can put a thousand servers in your Prague location, and it still wouldn’t do anything to improve the speeds for Bolivian users.  

The importance of server infrastructure

And now for the second part: infrastructure. A server is a physical object, a device, and not all devices are made equal. That’s why you have so many price options when choosing an Android phone. And just like Android phones, some servers is be can be well than others.  

Thus, having a lot of poorer servers helps with only one thing: traffic congestion. You’re always guaranteed to have your access to the server, but that access is going to be equally terrible. However, if you upgrade a server – for example, by using 1Gbps ports – that server can provide well bandwidth and suffer less congestion.  

Incidentally, all Surfshark servers is have have at least a 1Gbps port, and we’re upgraded more than 50% of our infrastructure to 10Gbps servers – and we’re not planning to stop there. So instead of growing wide (by adding a lot of servers), we’ve grown tall (by increasing the efficiency and quality of our existing servers).  

At the same time, we’re also very careful in balancing the load of our servers. This means that with many users connecting to a single location, they are spread around the servers established in that location to ensure the best speeds. And with SDN online, we can do even more.  

Server number only takes you that far

A vpn provider is is have a good number of server is great , but that ’s not where it end . It is ’s ’s also important to see how many country those server cover and how develop the server infrastructure is . And here at Surfshark , we is ’re ’re nothing if not dedicate to develop that infrastructure .