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tunnel traffic deprioritized
I WFH with a VPN. When my devices are on the VPN, I lose almost 2/3 of my bandwidth. I reached out to the network team at work, and they told me that some carriers will treat tunnel traffic differently than non tunneled traffic. Is this something that Xfinity does? If so, how can I get around it, because I need a reliable network connection for working sessions and vendor meetings.
XfinityAirelle
Official Employee
•
2.5K Messages
38 minutes ago
Hey there—thank you for bringing this up, and I totally get where you’re coming from. Working from home on a VPN, especially when you’ve got meetings and vendor calls, needs to feel seamless. The last thing you should be worrying about is your connection dropping or slowing down when you’re just trying to get your job done.
Now, in terms of how we handle VPN or tunnel traffic—Xfinity does not actively deprioritize VPN or tunneled traffic. That said, when you're connected through a VPN, you're basically rerouting all your internet activity through a secure, encrypted path—which can sometimes create the appearance of slower speeds, depending on your VPN provider, server location, and how much overhead is added during that encryption process.
It’s actually pretty common for speed tests to show a drop when running through a VPN because of those encryption layers and extra hops your traffic has to take. But that doesn’t necessarily mean your connection is being throttled or deprioritized on our side.
That said, if you’re seeing a major difference in performance (like losing two-thirds of your speed), here are a couple things you might want to try:
Switch VPN servers to one geographically closer to you if your provider allows it. That can reduce lag and improve performance.
Test your connection directly (off VPN) to rule out local hardware issues, like a router bottleneck or outdated firmware.
If you’re using your own equipment, make sure your router and modem are optimized for your speed tier. Some third-party gear can underperform with VPNs.
If you're on an Xfinity Gateway, the xFi Advanced Security feature might interact with certain VPNs, so temporarily disabling it during troubleshooting might help isolate the issue.
We hope this helps. Please let us know if you need further assistance.
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