Trying to choose a proper VPN protocol you may spend hours searching for a perfect one. Luckily, VPN Unlimited offers many up-to-date VPN protocols that can be configured personally.
To choose the right balance between security and speed, you need to know what protocol is supported by your device. By default, VPN Unlimited will use the optimal VPN protocol, but you can always go to application settings and check out all possible options. Go on reading to learn more about UDP and TCP VPN protocols, and learn why you should use one protocol over the other.
In general, both protocols are widely used in today's networks. They allow you to guarantee the delivery of the message to the addressee and preserve the correct sequence of data transmission. At the same time, these protocols have some differences, which make them possible to use to solve different problems.
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) is a network protocol that allows you not to lose data during transmission, asks for confirmation of receipt from the receiving side, and, if necessary, resends the data. Before starting to exchange data, this protocol needs to establish a connection between two hosts. The disadvantage of this protocol is the low data transfer rate because the execution of a reliable and orderly transfer takes more time than in the alternative UDP protocol.
User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is simpler. To transmit data, it does not need to establish a connection between the sender and the recipient. The information is transmitted without a preliminary check of the readiness of the receiving party. This makes the protocol less reliable - some pieces of data may be lost during transmission. But the data transfer rate for this transport protocol will be higher.
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| TCP Protocol | UDP Protocol |
|---|---|
| TCP guarantees that data packets will be delivered | Delivery of data packets is not guaranteed |
| Great error-checking mechanisms | Basic error checking mechanism |
| More secure than UDP | Faster and simpler than TCP |
| Lost data packets can be retransmitted | Lost packets are not retransmitted |
| Doesn’t support Broadcasting | Supports Broadcasting |
So, how to find the perfect balance between speed and security? We recommend choosing TCP if accurate and verifiable data transmission is required - for example, sending photos, or correspondence between users. UDP is needed for communication in a voice format, or when transmitting streaming video, for example, from webcams or IP cameras.
The TCP protocol is connection-oriented, whereas UDP is connectionless. The difference between TCP and UDP is speed, as TCP is slower than UDP. Overall, UDP is a much faster, simpler, and efficient protocol, however, retransmission of lost data packets is only possible with TCP.
Both protocols can be used for gaming. The consensus is that TCP is used for non-real-time, action-oriented games. While UDP is generally recommended for real-time multiplayer games with high data usage.
While UDP is the most common transport protocol in streaming applications, Spotify instead uses TCP. As streamed tracks are shared in the peer-to-peer network, the re-sending of lost packets is useful to the application.
If you have any questions about the configuration of VPN Unlimited protocols, contact our Customer Support via [email protected]. We will be happy to help you with the correct VPN speed and security balance.
Check out our UDP vs TCP VPN protocols review and download our solution to use both whenever you need them!