Connecting through a VPN is about more than just encrypting your traffic or accessing blocked sites. The specific server location you connect through can have a huge impact on everything from your privacy protections to streaming access.
With hundreds or even thousands of possible server locations on offer from leading VPN providers, how do you go about selecting the optimal one for your needs?
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll cover all the key factors to consider and best practices to follow when picking a VPN server location for privacy, speed, torrenting, streaming, gaming, and more. Let‘s dive in!
Contents
Why Your VPN Server Location Matters
Your VPN provider can have servers spread across dozens of countries worldwide. But why does it matter which one you connect through?
Mask Your True Location
One of the main reasons to use a VPN is to hide your real IP address and physical location assigned by your internet service provider (ISP).
Connecting through a server in another country masks this, allowing you to browse the web privately and access geo-restricted sites anonymously.
According to data from GlobalWebIndex, 47% of VPN users do so in order to keep their browsing activity hidden and private.
Access Blocked Content
Certain streaming platforms like Netflix restrict content based on your location. By routing your traffic through another country, a VPN can help you bypass geo-blocks and access overseas libraries.
For example, Netflix USA has over 5,000 titles available while Netflix Canada has under 4,000. A US-based VPN server lets Canadians unlock the full US catalog.
Improve Connection Speeds
The physical distance between you and the VPN server impacts speeds. A shorter distance means faster data transfers back and forth with lower latency.
Choosing a server in a country near you or a major city in your region can significantly boost speeds by reducing the time data takes to travel.
According to data from speedtest platform Ookla, latency to a nearby server is up to 10x faster than one across the other side of the world:
| Server Location | Latency from US (ms) |
|---|---|
| New York | 19 ms |
| London | 102 ms |
| Singapore | 205 ms |
| Sydney | 174 ms |
Bypass Censorship & Surveillance
In countries like China, Iran and Russia, the internet is heavily censored and monitored by the government.
By tunneling your traffic through a VPN server in a country with internet freedom, you can gain access to blocked sites and avoid surveillance of your activities.
A 2022 study found over 50% of Russians began using VPNs to bypass censorship after thousands of sites were blocked by authorities.
6 Crucial Factors When Choosing a Server
When picking a VPN server, there are several key factors to weigh up:
1. Jurisdiction and Privacy Laws
Arguably the most important criteria is the legal jurisdiction and privacy laws governing the VPN provider and server location.
Some countries have significantly stronger privacy and data protection laws than others. For example:
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Switzerland and Iceland have legal frameworks that ensure strong digital privacy rights for individuals.
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Meanwhile, members of the "Five Eyes" alliance (US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) cooperate closely on intelligence gathering and online surveillance.
According to technology law expert Asaf Lubin, Switzerland‘s robust privacy laws make it one of the world‘s best jurisdictions for VPN services to be based in.
Ideally, you should connect via servers in a country that is not part of an intelligence sharing alliance and has strict data protection laws like Romania, Panama, or Bulgaria.
2. Number of Servers
More servers in a location supports more users without slowdowns. If one server is overloaded, your traffic can easily be routed to another nearby one instead.
Having a wide network of thousands of servers avoids congestion. For example, ExpressVPN has 3,000+ servers across 94 countries while CyberGhost has over 9,000 worldwide.
According to data experts at PreciseSecurity.com, the larger a VPN‘s server network the less likely you are to experience lag or peak congestion impacts.
3. Server Proximity
Choosing a server physically near your actual location reduces the distance data must travel. This lowers latency and results in faster speeds.
Connecting via a VPN server in the same city or country is optimal to keep latency (also called ping) under 20ms. By comparison, a server on the other side of the world can have 500ms+ latency.
High latency makes activities like video streaming or voice calls frustrating as you experience constant lag and buffering.
4. Local Infrastructure
Some countries simply have more advanced internet infrastructure, data centers, and server technology than others.
For example, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore, Japan, and Sweden are popular server site choices among VPN providers as they offer fast, resilient servers and plenty of bandwidth capacity.
According to a Cloudscene report, these countries ranked highest for their strong international connectivity, number of high-capacity data centers, and average internet speeds.
5. Freedom From Censorship
In places like China, Turkey, and Russia, the government restricts access to certain websites and surveils their citizens‘ online activities closely.
Connecting via a VPN server in a country with high levels of internet freedom helps bypass blocked sites and censorship.
Tools like the Freedom on the Net report rank countries based on their online civil liberties. High scorers like Estonia, Iceland, and Canada make good server picks to avoid censorship.
6. Local Content Libraries
Due to complex licensing agreements, streaming platforms like Netflix and BBC iPlayer have different libraries available per country.
To access overseas catalogs, you‘ll need a VPN server physically located in that same country. For example, a UK server is required for BBC iPlayer, Singapore for Asia-centric shows, etc.
Unfortunately, streaming sites are increasingly getting better at detecting and blocking VPN connections, even from servers in the "right" country. While geolocation still works some of the time, it‘s becoming less reliable.
Picking the Best Server Locations For:
Now let‘s get into the specifics of which server locations are ideal for certain use cases:
Highest Privacy
If privacy is your top concern, Switzerland remains the gold standard. Switzerland is outside the Five/Nine/Fourteen Eyes surveillance alliances.
It also has some of the strictest data protection laws in the world including:
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Article 13 of the Swiss Constitution upholds digital privacy as a fundamental human right.
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The Swiss Federal Data Protection Act (FDPA) mandates consent before collecting personal data and strict limits on processing.
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The country has a long history of neutrality on the world stage and lacks any mandatory data retention laws.
Other privacy-focused locations include Iceland, Panama, Romania, Norway, and the Netherlands.
Torrenting
When downloading torrents, staying anonymous is critical, whether they contain legal or pirated material.
Latvia, Moldova, Lithuania, Bosnia, Serbia, and Switzerland are popular torrenting server locations due to permissive copyright laws, strong privacy protections, and no mandatory data retention requirements.
They are also not part of intelligence-sharing agreements like Five Eyes that could report your activities.
According to filesharing news site TorrentFreak, Romania and Switzerland ranked the top VPN jurisdictions for torrenting in 2022.
Streaming Geo-Unblocks
Due to complex licensing agreements, streaming platforms like Netflix have different libraries per country.
To access overseas catalogs, you‘ll need a VPN server physically located in that country. Examples include:
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USA for full Netflix library
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UK for BBC iPlayer
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Canada for Crave
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Japan for anime on Crunchyroll
However, beware streaming sites actively block most VPN IP addresses, even ones located in the "correct" country they operate in. VPNs still work some of the time, but reliability is decreasing.
Fastest Speeds
Countries like Netherlands, Singapore, Japan, Sweden and Germany have very high internet speeds and state-of-the-art infrastructure. This makes them ideal server locations for lag-free online gaming, 4K/HD streaming and fast downloads.
Connecting to a server in a major city near your location is also optimal to reduce latency. Having the server in the same country or city keeps the physical distance shorter.
Tools like speedtest.net can check the real-world latency and throughput speeds of different server locations. Always pick the one with lowest milliseconds (ms) ping for your use case.
Security Against Surveillance
In countries like Russia and China, all internet traffic is closely monitored and analyzed for dissent, with tight censorship. Their domestic servers should always be avoided.
NordVPN offers "Obfuscated Servers" designed specifically to evade blocks in highly-monitored countries.
For avoiding surveillance, offshore servers in Switzerland, Iceland, Panama, or Romania again top the list for high legal protections against monitoring and no mandatory data retention laws.
Turkey, India, and Qatar are also poor choices due to "mandatory SIM linkage laws" requiring taking a prepaid SIM card to sign up for the internet, tying online activity directly to your ID.
Step-by-Step Guide For Changing VPN Server Locations
Once you‘ve researched and selected your optimal server location, modern VPN apps make connecting to a new country easy:
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Open up your VPN app and tap on Server Locations (sometimes called Server List or just Locations).
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Browse the list of countries and cities. Select your desired new server location based on the criteria above.
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Tap Connect to establish a connection to the new server. On some VPNs you must manually disconnect from the active server first.
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Visit a geolocation site like iplocation.net to confirm your IP address and location now match the server country.
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Clear your browser cookies, cache and browsing history to remove traces that could be used for location tracking.
And that‘s it – you‘re now free to enjoy the internet from your new virtual location!
For advanced users, enabling "Multi-Hop" connections (via two servers) provides an extra layer of privacy and encryption but may impact speeds.
The Optimal VPN Server For You
As you can see, there is no single universal "best" VPN server or location for everyone. It depends entirely on your specific needs and priorities:
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Privacy connoisseurs should utilize locations like Switzerland and Iceland outside surveillance networks.
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Geo-dodgers need servers that match the streaming catalog or sites they want to access abroad.
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Gamers need minimal latency so nearby servers are key
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World travelers should connect via countries with internet freedom to counter censorship.
By taking the time to weigh all the factors – from proximity and speed to security and streaming access – you can make an informed decision to select the ideal VPN server location for any online activity.
Your digital privacy and security start from your first click. We hope this guide provided some key principles to help you stay safe no matter where in the world the internet takes you.
