Why Do People in Hong Kong Use VPNs?

VPN (Virtual Private Network) usage in Hong Kong has been growing steadily. While Hong Kong enjoys a relatively open internet environment, there are many legitimate and practical reasons why residents choose to use a VPN. Understanding these use cases and how VPNs interact with your broadband connection will help you make smarter decisions when choosing an internet plan.

Privacy Protection

A VPN encrypts all your internet traffic, preventing your ISP, public WiFi operators, or other third parties from monitoring your online activity. This is especially important when using public WiFi networks in places like coffee shops, shopping malls, and co-working spaces, where unencrypted data can be intercepted.

Unlocking Geo-Restricted Content

Many streaming platforms restrict content based on geographic location due to licensing agreements. Common examples include:

• Netflix: The US library offers significantly more titles than the Hong Kong catalogue
• BBC iPlayer: Accessible only from UK IP addresses
• Japanese streaming platforms (TVer, Abema): Require a Japanese IP address
• Sports broadcasts: Certain events are only available in specific regions

Remote Work

An increasing number of Hong Kong professionals need to connect to their company's internal network (intranet) via VPN, particularly:

• Multinational corporation employees connecting to overseas headquarters
• Financial sector workers accessing secure systems
• IT professionals managing remote servers and development environments
• Freelancers connecting to client systems

Enhanced Security

VPNs add an extra layer of encryption to your connection, protecting against:

• Man-in-the-middle attacks
• DNS hijacking
• Packet sniffing on unsecured networks

How VPNs Affect Your Broadband Speed

Using a VPN will always have some impact on your internet speed. This is an inherent consequence of how VPN technology works. Understanding the extent of this speed reduction will help you choose the right broadband plan.

Why Speed Decreases

• Encryption overhead: All data must be encrypted and decrypted, consuming processing resources
• Data encapsulation: VPN protocols add extra header information to your data packets, increasing data volume by approximately 5-15%
• Server distance: The farther the VPN server, the higher the latency (ping)
• VPN server load: Popular servers may slow down due to high user volume

Expected Speed Retention by Server Location

Practical example: If you have 100Mbps broadband and connect to a US VPN server, your effective speed will be approximately 50-70Mbps. This is sufficient for general streaming and browsing, but may fall short if you need to run multiple bandwidth-intensive tasks simultaneously.

Which Broadband Speed Works Best with VPN?

Since VPNs reduce your effective speed, you should factor this in when selecting a broadband plan:

Our advice: If you are a regular VPN user, choose a broadband plan at least one tier above what you would normally need. For instance, if 100M would suffice without VPN, upgrade to 500M to maintain comfortable speeds with VPN active.

VPN Protocol Comparison

Different VPN protocols offer varying trade-offs between speed, security, and stability. Here is a comparison of the most widely used protocols today:

Our Recommendations

• General users: Choose WireGuard first -- it offers the fastest speeds, simple setup, and strong security
• Corporate users: Follow your company's IT department requirements, typically OpenVPN or IKEv2/IPSec
• Mobile users: Choose IKEv2/IPSec for seamless automatic reconnection when switching between WiFi and mobile data
• Maximum security priority: Choose OpenVPN (UDP), the industry-recognised gold standard for open-source VPN security

ISP Throttling: Is Your Provider Slowing Down Your VPN?

Some users report unusually slow speeds when using a VPN. This may be related to ISP throttling.

What Is ISP Throttling?

ISP throttling occurs when your broadband provider detects specific types of traffic (such as VPN or P2P) and deliberately reduces the transmission speed for that traffic. Hong Kong ISPs generally do not engage in widespread VPN throttling, but it may occur in the following situations:

• During peak hours (7-11 PM) for high-bandwidth users
• When large volumes of P2P traffic are detected
• When specific international routes are congested

How to Determine If You Are Being Throttled

1. Comparison test: Run speed tests with VPN on and off. If the speed drop with VPN active is significantly greater than normal encryption overhead, throttling may be occurring
2. Change VPN port: Switch your VPN to port 443 (commonly used for HTTPS). This makes it harder for the ISP to distinguish VPN traffic from regular encrypted web browsing
3. Test at different times: If slowness only occurs during certain hours, it may be network congestion rather than targeted throttling

How to Combat ISP Throttling

• Use obfuscation: Some VPN providers (such as ExpressVPN and NordVPN) offer obfuscation features that disguise VPN traffic as regular HTTPS traffic
• Switch to port 443: The simplest and most effective countermeasure
• Use the WireGuard protocol: Its traffic pattern is harder for ISPs to identify and classify
• Consider switching ISPs: If throttling is confirmed, you may want to switch to a different broadband provider

Common VPN Issues and Fixes

Issue 1: No Internet Access After Connecting to VPN

• Ensure your VPN client is updated to the latest version
• Try connecting to a different VPN server
• Switch to a different VPN protocol (e.g., from OpenVPN to WireGuard)
• Check if your firewall or antivirus software is blocking the VPN connection
• Restart your router and device

Issue 2: VPN Connection Keeps Dropping

• Switch to a more stable protocol (IKEv2/IPSec or OpenVPN TCP)
• Test your underlying broadband connection first (disable VPN and run a speed test)
• Connect to a closer VPN server (e.g., Hong Kong or Singapore)
• Enable the "auto-reconnect" feature in your VPN client

Issue 3: Streaming Platform Detects VPN

• Switch to a different server in the same country
• Use your VPN provider's dedicated "streaming-optimised" servers
• Clear your browser cookies and cache
• Try using your browser's incognito or private mode

Issue 4: Extremely Slow VPN Speeds

• Switch to the faster WireGuard protocol
• Choose a geographically closer server
• Avoid popular server locations (try a different city in the same country)
• Check if ISP throttling is the cause (see the section above)
• Verify that your underlying broadband speed is sufficient

Setting Up VPN on Your Router

In addition to installing VPN apps on individual devices, you can configure VPN directly on your router so that every device connected to your WiFi is automatically protected.

Advantages

• All devices are automatically protected by VPN
• Counts as only one device connection with your VPN provider
• Devices that cannot install VPN apps natively (smart TVs, game consoles) are covered

Disadvantages

• Setup is more complex and requires some technical knowledge
• Router processing power is limited, which may further reduce speeds
• Switching between VPN servers is less convenient

Our recommendation: If your router supports it natively (for example, ASUS routers have built-in VPN client functionality), router-level VPN is worth trying. However, for most users, installing VPN apps on individual devices offers greater flexibility and ease of use.

Conclusion

VPN usage in Hong Kong spans a wide range of practical purposes, from privacy protection and geo-unblocking to remote work security. The key is understanding how VPNs affect your broadband speed and selecting the right combination of broadband plan and VPN protocol to balance security with performance. If you use a VPN regularly, we recommend choosing at least a 500Mbps broadband plan to ensure you have ample usable bandwidth after encryption overhead. Pair it with the WireGuard protocol for the best speed-to-security ratio, and you will have a fast, secure internet experience.