Internet slow on late 2012 mac mini, VPN issue

[ErikinGermany]

My second computer is a late 2012 Mac Mini, 500 GB internal HD, 16 GB RAM. It is running Catalina.
I only use this for streaming the internet with my kids, nothing else at all is important to me to run on this computer. I have NordVPN installed.
When I run a speed test (firefox) without connecting through the VPN, I get 250 MBps download, 40 Mbps upload, which is exactly what I pay for from my ISP. When I run the test connected through the VPN, I only get 90-100 download, upload still good at 40.
Through chrome, I get the same 90-100 download when not connected to the VPN, when connected it drops to 70-80.
The weird thing is, when streaming unconnected through FF, it hangs up a lot and isn't much better than with the VPN connected, even though the speeds are so much faster unconnected. It still gets stuck a lot and has to be reloaded to continue. This might happen 5 times in a half hour show. Same with chrome - I would say it makes very little difference whether on chrome or FF, connected to the VPN or not, the streaming is still bad. I've been in contact with Nord, they are no help at all.
As an aside, my newer late 2019 mac mini (on which I do lots of stuff other than streaming) uses the same VPN, same browsers and has no issues at all.

I'm wondering if it's the computer itself and if there's any fix. Since I don't care about anything that's on there, I could simply reset the computer to factory settings, might that help? I've already deleted most software and files, it's using about half of the 500 GB HD.
Or reading other threads, would getting an SSD HD (even 250 GB would be enough, maybe external) help? Since my problem is internet streaming, I'm not sure if that would do much, but if it would, I'm not sure what to then do, perhaps I could set it up to boot from there? I was also considering running a malware scan or using some cleanup software, would this make sense?
Or any other thoughts/advice? Any and all help is very much appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

 

[MacInWin]

I'm wondering if it's the computer itself and if there's any fix.

No, and not much. The speed through VPN is entirely dependent on the speed of the VPN service. Where there are VPN servers, there may the thousands of users sharing the bandwidth available at that server. About all you can try is to use a different VPN server. And the speed of your internal drive has nothing to do with streaming speed. The bottom line is that you are running through a bottleneck.

You can maybe try other VPN services, but my experience is that all of them suffer the same throttling.

 

[Rod]

I agree with Jake 100% on this. I'm an Australian living in Indonesia and I use a VPN on all our devices including our TV for security and access to my Australian subscription sites.
I have tried Nord and SurfShark and neither worked well for me, I continue to use Express VPN which I have found to be best for my purposes not to mention their excellent 24/7 live chat support.
Having said all that, all VPN apps I've tried provide the option to choose servers by throttling % so you can pick the best.
In any case your down/upload speeds seem more than adequate for live streaming, I frequently get by on much less, eg 10-20 MB/sec for Prime even though I pay for 100MB we seldom get that.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I don't have personal experience with this, so take it for what it's worth.

I've heard multiple times that ExpressVPN is easily the VPN service with the best performance. It also has lots of reviews that say that it offers very high security.

The downside is that it's more expensive than the more popular NordVPN, or SurfShark.

https://www.expressvpn.com/vpn-download/vpn-mac

You might want to read the reviews on this site that I very much respect:

https://restoreprivacy.com/vpn/best/

 

[ErikinGermany]

Thank you all for your replies, what confuses me is: As I wrote, my newer (late 2019) mac mini uses the same Nord VPN servers and doesn't have any issues. It gets 250 Mbps download speeds without connecting through the VPN and only loses about 10-20 Mbps when connected through Nord VPN. So if it has nothing to do with the computer itself, how to explain that the one mac mini is fine while the older one is pretty bad when both use the same VPN connection?

As for what I get being enough to stream, it seems to depend on the website, some, like youtube, almost never have issues, while others tend to get hung up regularly with the VPN connected (much better without). But there are some sites I want to use that I can only access with a VPN, so I need it to work.

 

[jpdemers]

The speeds you describe should be good enough for streaming; the problem sounds like intermittent connection issues. FWIW, I use Surfshark, and it works well enough for my purposes. (Standard-issue 32" monitors, not 4k, on an M1 Mini.)

How are the computers connected to your router? Ethernet or Wi-Fi? If the latter, 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz?
2.4 GHz travels farther at lower speeds, while 5 GHz provides better speed but at shorter range, and is more sensitive to intervening walls and floors. (Note that the older Mac has an older Wi-Fi chipset, and will not have identical performance.) I would try changing channels to see if things improve, and if feasible try an Ethernet connection.

Re Ethernet, I had bad internet speeds using a wired connection to my router, which turned out to be due to a cheapo Amazon cable. I invested a few bucks in a quality cat 6 cable, and the speed went up tenfold. I've also had to replace a cheapo HDMI cable, which was causing a monitor to black out randomly. Take-home lesson: don't cheap out on your cables.

 

[ErikinGermany]

The speeds you describe should be good enough for streaming; the problem sounds like intermittent connection issues. FWIW, I use Surfshark, and it works well enough for my purposes. (Standard-issue 32" monitors, not 4k, on an M1 Mini.)

How are the computers connected to your router? Ethernet or Wi-Fi? If the latter, 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz?
2.4 GHz travels farther at lower speeds, while 5 GHz provides better speed but at shorter range, and is more sensitive to intervening walls and floors. (Note that the older Mac has an older Wi-Fi chipset, and will not have identical performance.) I would try changing channels to see if things improve, and if feasible try an Ethernet connection.

Re Ethernet, I had bad internet speeds using a wired connection to my router, which turned out to be due to a cheapo Amazon cable. I invested a few bucks in a quality cat 6 cable, and the speed went up tenfold. I've also had to replace a cheapo HDMI cable, which was causing a monitor to black out randomly. Take-home lesson: don't cheap out on your cables.

Thank for weighing in. It makes sense that it could be an intermittent connection issue, except then why is it ok without VPN? I connect via ethernet and did try changing that cable, nothing special (not gold-plated or anything), but the one I changed to is a new one from the company that hooked up the internet, so I assume it's ok. I could try another. And again, if it's the cable, why do I get nearly nearly the 250 Mbps download speed that I pay for when not connecting through VPN? This makes it seem like the VPN, but then why does the same VPN work fine on the newer mac mini (also ethernet)? That's why I keep coming back to the computer itself.

 

[ferrarr]

The older model, uses older connections. The newer model uses newer technology for the connections. Those alone offer differences in speeds. Are you using Wi-Fi, or ethernet? Both machines have different specs for both connection types.

 

[ErikinGermany]

The older model, uses older connections. The newer model uses newer technology for the connections. Those alone offer differences in speeds. Are you using Wi-Fi, or ethernet? Both machines have different specs for both connection types.

I'm using ethernet. The models having different specs makes sense, but then why does firefox get close to the 250 Mbps I'm paying for without going thru the VPN servers (50-60 when connected)? I know VPN reduces the speed, but so much? On chrome it's about 90-100 without VPN, 70-80 with, so I don't know what's going on there (why so low even without VPN). The newer model get 240+ with both browsers, with or without VPN. Will the older models lose so much more just because of VPN?

 

[ferrarr]

Have you tested in safe mode?

 

[MacInWin]

I know VPN reduces the speed, but so much?

It can. I have 1Gbps service, but when I kick in the VPN it sometimes drops to as low as 120Mbps, depending on the server.

NOTE: I can "fish" for faster servers, and some manage to get up to about 300Mbps, but others can't handle the speed.

 

[Rod]

Again as mentioned you pretty much get what you pay for with VPNs. Express VPN has 6 servers in Australia which is almost unheard of. Many more in Northern Hemisphere countries. I can pick the fastest from the speed chart. And if and when I’ve had difficulties (rare) their English speaking 24/7 live chat line has always sorted my problem. That's what I'm more than willing to pay for.

 

[ErikinGermany]

Have you tested in safe mode?

No, I haven't, I've actually never done that. What would this eliminate as a problem?

 

[ErikinGermany]

Again as mentioned you pretty much get what you pay for with VPNs. Express VPN has 6 servers in Australia which is almost unheard of. Many more in Northern Hemisphere countries. I can pick the fastest from the speed chart. And if and when I’ve had difficulties (rare) their English speaking 24/7 live chat line has always sorted my problem. That's what I'm more than willing to pay for.

Thanks, NordVPN only has email customer service and based on their replies, I'm guessing they're based somewhere in S. America. I'll look into ExpressVPN, just sucks because I have a contract for several more months with Nord.

 

[IWT]

NordVPN is based in Panama.

See here:

Where is NordVPN based

NordVPN is based and operates under the jurisdiction of Panama, meanwhile Nord Security, parent company of NordVPN is based in Europe, in the Netherlands. Since NordVPN itself operates under Panama...

support.nordvpn.com

Ian

 

[ErikinGermany]

NordVPN is based in Panama.

See here:

Where is NordVPN based

NordVPN is based and operates under the jurisdiction of Panama, meanwhile Nord Security, parent company of NordVPN is based in Europe, in the Netherlands. Since NordVPN itself operates under Panama...

support.nordvpn.com

Ian

Makes sense, thanks. î^#m planning to change from them as the customer service kinda sucks, when my contract is up.