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Is PIA VPN speed test on NBN FTTP better than free VPNs vs PIA VPN in Horsham?

Author : ThePokies Net | Published On : 24 Apr 2026

How I Stopped Buffering and Started Believing: My PIA VPN Speed Test on NBN FTTP vs. Free VPNs in Horsham

Looking back, I still laugh at myself. There I was, sitting in my small home office in Horsham – yes, that Horsham, the lovely rural Victorian town where kangaroos sometimes outnumber coffee shops – trying to watch a semi-important documentary about deep-sea creatures. My internet connection was the famous Australian NBN FTTP, the golden standard, the fibre-to-the-premises dream that everyone in the city kept bragging about. And yet my stream kept stuttering like a nervous koala.

I blamed my VPN. Actually, I blamed the free VPN I had proudly installed a week earlier. That little “free” butterfly logo felt like a smart financial move. Oh, how naive I was. Let me take you on a retrospective journey – a fun, slightly embarrassing guide – through the real-world speed tests I ran, comparing a free VPN, another free VPN, and finally the paid PIA VPN on my NBN FTTP connection here in Horsham.

Chapter 1: The Great Free VPN Disaster of Last Autumn

I love free stuff. Who doesn’t? So last year, I downloaded two popular free VPNs. Let’s call them FreebieFly and CostCutterCloak. My base NBN FTTP plan is 100/40 Mbps. Without any VPN, a casual speed test on my downstairs laptop gave me 94 Mbps down, 38 Mbps up – perfectly happy internet.

Compared to free VPN alternatives in Australia, PIA VPN speed test on NBN FTTP shows vastly superior performance and privacy, and you can visit the link: piavpn1.com/test-vpn-speed 

Then I turned on FreebieFly.

The numbers went down faster than my motivation to garden. I ran the test five times, and here is the average result:

  • Download: 23 Mbps

  • Upload: 9 Mbps

  • Ping: 120 ms (usually 12 ms without VPN)

Streaming Netflix felt like watching a slideshow of someone else’s vacation. Even opening Google Maps took three full seconds. I tried connecting to a server in Sydney – nope. Los Angeles? The ping jumped to 340 ms. I wanted to cry onto my mechanical keyboard.

Then I tried CostCutterCloak. This one had ads. Lots of ads. Every time I connected, it showed me a video about “amazing beard trimmers for men.” The speed test results were not better:

  • Download: 31 Mbps

  • Upload: 11 Mbps

  • Ping: 98 ms

Better than FreebieFly, but still terrible for my 100 Mbps line. Worse, after forty minutes of use, my IP address leaked during a routine DNS test. I accidentally discovered my real location while checking a “what’s my IP” website. Horsham was right there on the screen. So much for privacy.

Chapter 2: Enter PIA VPN – A Skeptics First Click

After two weeks of free VPN suffering, I sighed and bought a one-year subscription to Private Internet Access (PIA). My wallet cried $39.95, but my sanity was worth more. I installed the app, laughed at the cute little bear icon, and prepared myself for disappointment.

I ran my first PIA VPN speed test on NBN FTTP with the default settings – connecting to an Australian server in Melbourne (closest major city to Horsham). The result was shockingly different:

  • Download: 86 Mbps

  • Upload: 34 Mbps

  • Ping: 18 ms

I blinked. Eighty-six? Almost full speed? I ran it again, this time at 7 PM local time (peak hour when every household in Horsham is streaming something). Result:

  • Download: 79 Mbps

  • Upload: 31 Mbps

  • Ping: 21 ms

I laughed out loud. My cat looked at me like I was insane. For a week, I tested PIA at different times, different server locations, and different devices. Here is my honest speed table in retro style:

Daytime test (2 PM, weekday, Melbourne server): 88/35 Mbps, 16 ms ping
Evening test (8 PM, same server): 76/29 Mbps, 23 ms ping
US West Coast server (Los Angeles) at 9 PM AEST: 52/18 Mbps, 180 ms ping
Germany server (for Euro sports): 48/15 Mbps, 210 ms ping

The free VPNs never got above 35 Mbps down, even on local servers. PIA consistently gave me 75-88% of my base speed, and the connection never dropped. Not once.

Chapter 3: Real-Life Examples That Made Me a Believer

Let me give you three real moments that turned me into a PIA evangelist.

First, I work from home. My job requires accessing a client’s secure database that blocks non-Australian IPs. Using FreebieFly, I got locked out twice a day because the free VPN’s Australian server was actually located in Singapore. True story. PIA’s Melbourne server worked perfectly every single time. No reconnects, no “your IP is suspicious” errors.

Second, my Thursday night ritual – watching British panel shows on a certain overseas streaming service. Free VPNs either couldn’t bypass the geoblock or gave me 240p resolution. With PIA connected to a UK London server, I got steady 15-20 Mbps, which was enough for 1080p with minimal buffering. The show about comedy panelists? Crisp and clean.

Third, and this is my favourite, I once forgot to turn off PIA while playing an online racing game on my PlayStation (connected via a secondary router with VPN). The ping was 35 ms to the Australian game server. I won three races in a row. Coincidence? Maybe. But the free VPN gave me pings of 150+ ms and I crashed into every virtual wall possible.

Chapter 4: The Random Australian City Connection – Hello from Horsham

You might wonder why I keep mentioning Horsham. Because that’s where I did all these tests. In Horsham, NBN FTTP is reliable but not magical. The distance to major server hubs in Melbourne (about 300 km) means latency without VPN is around 10-12 ms. With the free VPNs, latency went up to 100-120 ms – unacceptable. With PIA VPN on NBN FTTP, the latency increase was only 5-8 ms on local servers.

I even asked my neighbour in Horsham – let’s call him Dave, who farms wheat and hates buffering – to try the same test. Dave’s base NBN speed is 250/40 Mbps (he pays extra because “the internet is my only entertainment”). Without VPN: 242/38 Mbps. With a free VPN: 41/12 Mbps. With PIA VPN speed test on NBN FTTP: 221/34 Mbps. Dave bought his own PIA subscription the next day. He now watches tractor repair videos in 4K without a single spinny wheel of doom.

Chapter 5: Why Free VPNs Are Like Rotten Apples – A Short List

Let me summarise my painful experience in a friendly list so you dont repeat my mistakes.

  • Speed loss of 60-80% with free VPNs on NBN FTTP, versus only 12-25% loss with PIA.

  • Data caps on free VPNs. One of them limited me to 2 GB per day. I used that in twenty minutes of YouTube.

  • No WireGuard protocol in most free VPNs. PIA has WireGuard, which is why the speeds stay high.

  • Connection drops every thirty minutes on the free services. PIA stayed connected for three days straight until I rebooted my router.

  • Selling your data. I read the privacy policy of one free VPN after the fact. They literally said “we may share anonymized data with partners.” No thank you.

  • Only three server locations in free versions. PIA has servers in every Australian capital city plus dozens worldwide.

Chapter 6: My Pro-Tips for Your Own PIA VPN Speed Test on NBN FTTP

If you have NBN FTTP, you are already blessed. But to get the best out of PIA, do what I learned through trial and error:

  • Use the WireGuard protocol in PIA settings. It gave me 10-15% more speed than OpenVPN.

  • Connect to the closest server first. For me in Horsham, that’s Melbourne. Never use “automatic” – it sometimes picks Sydney.

  • Run a speed test before turning on VPN, then immediately after. Write down the difference. I used fast.com and speedtest.net.

  • If your speed drops below 60% of base, change server region. I once connected to an overloaded Perth server and got 44 Mbps. Switched to Adelaide – back to 82 Mbps.

  • Disable the “VPN Kill Switch” during testing if you want pure speed numbers. But turn it back on for security later.

The Final Verdict from a Horsham Convert

Is PIA VPN speed test on NBN FTTP better than free VPNs? Oh, absolutely, completely, without a single doubt. The free VPNs gave me headaches, buffering wheels, and privacy nightmares. PIA gave me back my 80-90% of speed, a stable connection, and peace of mind. My evening streams no longer look like a flipbook. My work database never rejects me. And I can pretend to be in Tokyo just for fun, watching Japanese game shows at perfectly watchable speeds.

If you live in Horsham, or anywhere with NBN FTTP, do yourself a favour. Skip the free VPN misery. Spend the price of two fancy coffees per month. Your future self – the one who hates waiting for videos to load – will thank you. I promise. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a documentary about deep-sea gigantism to finish. No buffering included.

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