As you may have noticed, we’ve rolled out a new Speed Test feature in our Windows and Mac OS apps.
Get the most out of ExpressVPN by using the Speed Test to find the best location for you.
Who knows? There might be a better server location for you than the one that you’re currently using.
To run the test, open up ExpressVPN on your Windows or Mac computer.
On the home screen, click the hamburger menu (≡), then click Speed Test.
On the Speed Test screen, click Run Test. This will take a few minutes but should be worth the wait.
(Also, you don’t need to wait for the tests to complete; you can cancel them after the latency tests are done and use the app to connect to a server location as you normally would. For best results, however, let the test run its course.)
How to interpret your speed test results
Speed Tests measures Latency and Download Speed, then combines those two into a single number called the Speed Index. You can sort your results by clicking on the headers in the columns.
- Latency is a measure of how long it takes for data to get from your computer to the VPN server, measured in milliseconds. The lower, the better. Generally speaking, the farther away the server is, the higher the latency will be. You’ll want the latency to be lower, as it indicates that your data has taken the shortest possible route.
- Download Speed measures how much data was transferred per second (measured in Megabits per second). The higher, the better.
- Speed Index is a combination of latency and download speed. The higher, the better.
How to use your speed test results
Now it’s time to put your speed test results to use! The location with the highest Speed Index is likely to be best for you for general web browsing.
However, in some cases you may want to access websites in specific countries. If so, you’ll want to choose the server with the highest Speed Index in that particular country.
For example, if you’re trying to connect to a website in the U.S., then you’ll want to connect to the U.S. server that returned the highest Speed Index. For the speed test in the screenshot, that would be “USA – Los Angeles”.
For convenience, the app will remember the Speed Test winner, and it’ll also remember the last three servers you connected to. You can access those in the left-hand side of the screen.
Give it a whirl!
Try it for yourself: run a speed test and connect to the server with the best Speed Index. And let us know in the comments how it works out for you – are you getting better speeds?
If you have any questions, please email or chat with us and we’ll help you choose a location.