Why is PIA latency so high?

Is PIA better than Nord?

Hi, I recently got a nord headphone to replace the old stock headphone that came with my iphone.

I prefer the sound quality of the PIA but I've noticed that people who use Nord say that PIA sounds better. What do you think? Thanks

I'm not an audiophile, and I don't know much about headphones, but I think I understand what you mean. When I listen to music, I would say that the Nord is more balanced in the sound. It doesn't sound bright, or with a punchy sound like a PIA does. But I do like the sound of the PIA, and it's definitely one of my favorite headphones. I don't know about PIA vs. Nord though.

I think PIA and Nord are both good. I prefer PIA for its transparency, clarity and natural sound. They both have a good sound, just different in some ways.

Originally Posted by pikachu. I prefer Nord because it's just smoother in general and it's what I've been listening to since I bought it when it first came out. It's also easier to drive into your head and it's more comfortable.

The differences in sound between PIA and Nord is minimal. In fact, I'd say that most people who say PIA sounds better than Nord are not being honest, they're just trying to be nice.

It depends on what you mean by "better". I find that PIA is more dynamic (vocalists can stand out), while Nord is more balanced (the voice is more apparent).

I think you'll find that it's not a matter of which one sounds better. Both PIA and Nord are great headphones. PIA has a slightly more "open" sound (for lack of a better term), while Nord has a slightly more "closed" sound. The sound of each is totally acceptable to me.

Is Private Internet Access still trustworthy?

In my last post, I wrote about how I've been using Private Internet Access for some time now, and whether I think the service is still trustworthy.

Today I'll provide an update on my experience with Private Internet Access, and if I still recommend the service.

My experience with Private Internet Access. The last time I wrote about my experience with Private Internet Access was in June 2024, but I have used the service since December 2024. Since then I've paid several hundred dollars to use the service, so it's fair to say that I've paid a lot of money to be on PIA's network. I've also had issues with PIA's service, but they were resolved quickly. So I am going to list my experience with PIA below.

When I first signed up for PIA, I had a lot of trouble getting on the internet. I think the issue was that I was trying to use a VPN on a Windows 8 laptop that I had upgraded to Windows 10. It took a couple of hours of troubleshooting, but I eventually got it to work. As soon as I connected to the internet, I had a bit of a problem getting on Facebook. Facebook didn't seem to want to load on my computer for a while, and then one day I was able to log into Facebook. The problem was that Facebook wasn't loading because the login page would open, but the page wouldn't load. When I closed the login page, I'd be back online, but Facebook would be down again.

There were similar problems with YouTube and Twitter. It was clear that PIA was blocking access to these sites, and it was working just fine on other computers in the household. The solution was to download Firefox for Windows, and use that to get on the internet. Once I had a browser installed, I've been able to access YouTube and Twitter just fine.

As soon as I got on the internet, I noticed that my connection speed was low. I was only getting about 3Mbps down, which is barely enough to stream video. I contacted PIA's support team, and they immediately said that I had a bad network router. I had no idea what they were talking about, and I didn't care.

Is PIA really no-logs?

The "no-logs" claim from PIA seems to imply that the information on user data in PIA is in fact encrypted.

I was wondering if someone could clarify that, or point out any potential issues with it's implementation. Specifically, we'd like to know if there is a way for third parties to get at user data without a warrant, if PIA is no-logs. (PIA states "we can take whatever steps we choose on your behalf," but that's not really no-logs unless you're giving everyone access to your server.) I'm interested because I've previously used and liked the idea of having one less company keeping private data, and am looking for another way to accomplish the same effect. So, what's going on?

I don't understand why people would assume this product is no-logs. It doesn't say that anywhere that I could see. I'm just looking for facts, not opinions.

Why would anybody assume that this is true? What's the evidence? Where is this implied or claimed? I could believe it, but it isn't really stated in any visible way that I can see. There's evidence, including public claims by the founders, which supports the idea. You would be hard-pressed to find a publicly-traded startup that makes such claims. You may have noticed that "no-logs" is a lot of PR.

We do actually have a document where we claim all sorts of things. Check out our privacy policy, which says that all data is encrypted, or our terms of service, which specifically state that we don't retain or share any data. For example:

For many reasons, not the least being its sheer size, it is impractical for us to maintain any sort of centralized log. Even if were to attempt to, it's quite possible to imagine scenarios in which a server gets breached, or otherwise lost. With PIA's system, all data is encrypted, making it virtually impossible for us to use data in any meaningful way, even to comply with our own Terms of Service.

Yes, very much so.

Why is PIA latency so high?

PIA is currently running a service which includes a latency experiment.

They are trying to identify any latency bottlenecks they can isolate, so the aim of the service is to help them make improvements.

The experiment lasts 24 hours and runs all day Monday to Friday. All traffic is captured and stored for analysis. Since they have a large number of active customers, PIA currently only capture a proportion of traffic but hope to increase that as the experiment progresses.

If you are using PIA and would like to join the experiment please sign-up at and join the call center on 1800 928 927. You will be asked to record a message (as a voice file). That message will then be used for our analysis.

To join the call center as a reporter please open your preferred dialer (ie. Skype etc.) and dial 1800 928 927. You will then be connected to a member of our staff who will guide you through the process. A web recorder may be available too. If you need further information on how to join please do not hesitate to ask.

It's important to note that while we will endeavour to identify and report any latency issues, there will be times where no obvious latency issues are found. This is especially the case where we are using traffic captured by different PIA service providers (ie our traffic might be routed via a separate PIA provider's network or via a third party carrier). For these cases it is possible we will not be able to identify the cause of the issue and we apologise in advance for this.

This is not a typical experience that any PIA customer would have. In the majority of cases, if any errors are reported, they will be related to the issue of our service provider failing to correctly transmit and relay traffic to PIIt is very difficult to detect a latency issue until you get to a customer where the experience is significantly affected.

What is PIA latency?