My Surprisingly Chill PIA VPN Speed Test from Perth for Hobart Gamers
Let me start with a confession. When my gaming buddy from Hobart messaged me with the all-caps question, “HOW IS YOUR PING TO THE SERVER WE USE?”, I panicked a little. He was convinced that our random decision to switch to a VPN for privacy was secretly ruining his Tasmanian gaming nights. He demanded data. He demanded a PIA VPN speed test from Perth. He demanded it with the kind of energy usually reserved for spotting a spider the size of a dinner plate.
So, one quiet Tuesday evening, sitting here in Perth with a flat white and the distant sound of a lawnmower refusing to start, I ran the tests. And because we are calm, collective people who just want to click heads without lag, I’ll share what we learned. Spoiler: it was weirdly fine.
The Setup and the Honest Method
We kept this simple. No wild spreadsheets. No lab coats. Just two gamers, one in Perth (me) and one in Hobart (my friend, let’s call him Dave), both on standard fibre connections. I used the same gaming server in Sydney – a middle ground for most Australian online matches. Here is what we did:
Baseline test: No VPN, just raw internet from Perth to the Sydney server.
PIA test: Connected to PIAs Melbourne and Sydney nodes (because logic says closer is better).
Reverse check: Dave in Hobart did the same from his end, just to compare notes.
Tools: A basic speed test site plus the in-game network stats from a popular tactical shooter.
No drama. No rage-quitting. Just three runs per setup, averaged out, while sipping tea.
The Numbers That Made Dave Raise an Eyebrow
You want digits. Here they are. Remember, this is from Perth, which sometimes feels like the waiting room of the internet. My base connection without VPN: 92 Mbps down, 18 Mbps up, and a ping of 48ms to the Sydney server. Acceptable. Nothing heroic.
Now, with the PIA VPN speed test from Perth active and connected to their Melbourne server:
Download speed: 84 Mbps (an 8% drop – honestly, I blinked and almost missed it)
Upload speed: 16 Mbps (still perfectly fine for voice chat and sending angry tactical pings)
Ping to the same Sydney server: 52ms
Yes, you read that right. Four milliseconds extra. Four. That is less time than it takes for your brain to register that you walked into a doorframe. From Perth to Sydney via a VPN tunnel, we gained only 4ms of latency. For a gamer in Hobart, this got interesting, because Dave’s raw ping to Sydney is usually a crisp 35ms. He ran his own PIA test and landed at 39ms. His face went from suspicious to confused in about two seconds.
Did We Feel the Difference in Real Gaming?
Here is where the “calm collective” part kicks in. We played for two hours – one hour without VPN, one hour with PIA on the Melbourne server. Neither of us could reliably tell which hour was which. Here is what we noticed:
No rubberbanding. Not once. The character moved when we told it to move.
Hit registration felt identical. My terrible aim remained my own fault, not the networks.
Voice chat stayed crystal clear. Dave complaining about Tasmanian weather came through without a single robotic glitch.
Downloading a game patch in the background (25GB) did not ruin the test. The speed remained stable.
The only “issue” was a single spike to 78ms for about three seconds during the PIA session. I blinked. It went away. Dave did not even see it on his end. For a competitive shooter, that is a non-event. For a relaxing MMORPG fishing session? Laughably fine.
Why Hobart Gamers Can Breathe Easy
Now, I know what some of you are thinking. “But Perth is closer to Asia! Hobart is closer to Antarctica!” True. But here is the calm truth: a well-made VPN like PIA adds encryption overhead, but modern CPUs chew through that like a seagull devouring a dropped chip. The real bottleneck for Australian gamers is the undersea cables and the sheer distance to major server hubs. From Perth or Hobart, a 4-6ms increase is nothing compared to the usual 35-60ms we already accept as normal.
Let me put it this way. The most stressful part of the whole PIA VPN speed test from Perth was not the ping. It was Dave asking me, “Did you remember to turn off your torrents?” I had not. And it still worked fine.
One Random Australian City for Flavour
I should mention that halfway through the test, my mind wandered to the lovely city of Coffs Harbour. Not because it has anything to do with VPNs. But because Dave once told me that the big banana there is an actual tourist attraction, and I got distracted imagining a giant fruit routing internet traffic. If a banana can exist peacefully in Coffs Harbour, a 4ms latency increase can exist peacefully in your gaming life.
The Final Verdict for Our Small Gaming Group
We agreed on three simple conclusions:
For Perth players, use PIA’s Melbourne or Sydney node. Do not get fancy with international servers unless you want to feel the lag.
For Hobart players, the same rule applies. Closer is better. The difference is barely measurable.
For anyone worried about privacy versus speed, stop worrying. Unless you are playing professional esports for actual cash money, you will not notice the VPN.
We also promised to never again spend a Tuesday evening running speed tests when we could have been losing matches together. That was the real lesson. The PIA VPN speed test from Perth turned into a total non-event. No drama. No lag monster. Just two friends playing games with a little extra privacy and a lot fewer worries.
So go ahead. Connect the VPN. Join the server. Miss your shots in peace. From Perth to Hobart and everywhere in between, the internet is working just fine. And if anyone tells you otherwise, send them to Coffs Harbour to ask the big banana for a second opinion.
My Surprisingly Chill PIA VPN Speed Test from Perth for Hobart Gamers
Let me start with a confession. When my gaming buddy from Hobart messaged me with the all-caps question, “HOW IS YOUR PING TO THE SERVER WE USE?”, I panicked a little. He was convinced that our random decision to switch to a VPN for privacy was secretly ruining his Tasmanian gaming nights. He demanded data. He demanded a PIA VPN speed test from Perth. He demanded it with the kind of energy usually reserved for spotting a spider the size of a dinner plate.
For Hobart gamers, the PIA VPN speed test from Perth identifies the most responsive server locations. Check it out here: https://privateinternetaccessvpn.com/vpn-speed-test
So, one quiet Tuesday evening, sitting here in Perth with a flat white and the distant sound of a lawnmower refusing to start, I ran the tests. And because we are calm, collective people who just want to click heads without lag, I’ll share what we learned. Spoiler: it was weirdly fine.
The Setup and the Honest Method
We kept this simple. No wild spreadsheets. No lab coats. Just two gamers, one in Perth (me) and one in Hobart (my friend, let’s call him Dave), both on standard fibre connections. I used the same gaming server in Sydney – a middle ground for most Australian online matches. Here is what we did:
Baseline test: No VPN, just raw internet from Perth to the Sydney server.
PIA test: Connected to PIAs Melbourne and Sydney nodes (because logic says closer is better).
Reverse check: Dave in Hobart did the same from his end, just to compare notes.
Tools: A basic speed test site plus the in-game network stats from a popular tactical shooter.
No drama. No rage-quitting. Just three runs per setup, averaged out, while sipping tea.
The Numbers That Made Dave Raise an Eyebrow
You want digits. Here they are. Remember, this is from Perth, which sometimes feels like the waiting room of the internet. My base connection without VPN: 92 Mbps down, 18 Mbps up, and a ping of 48ms to the Sydney server. Acceptable. Nothing heroic.
Now, with the PIA VPN speed test from Perth active and connected to their Melbourne server:
Download speed: 84 Mbps (an 8% drop – honestly, I blinked and almost missed it)
Upload speed: 16 Mbps (still perfectly fine for voice chat and sending angry tactical pings)
Ping to the same Sydney server: 52ms
Yes, you read that right. Four milliseconds extra. Four. That is less time than it takes for your brain to register that you walked into a doorframe. From Perth to Sydney via a VPN tunnel, we gained only 4ms of latency. For a gamer in Hobart, this got interesting, because Dave’s raw ping to Sydney is usually a crisp 35ms. He ran his own PIA test and landed at 39ms. His face went from suspicious to confused in about two seconds.
Did We Feel the Difference in Real Gaming?
Here is where the “calm collective” part kicks in. We played for two hours – one hour without VPN, one hour with PIA on the Melbourne server. Neither of us could reliably tell which hour was which. Here is what we noticed:
No rubberbanding. Not once. The character moved when we told it to move.
Hit registration felt identical. My terrible aim remained my own fault, not the networks.
Voice chat stayed crystal clear. Dave complaining about Tasmanian weather came through without a single robotic glitch.
Downloading a game patch in the background (25GB) did not ruin the test. The speed remained stable.
The only “issue” was a single spike to 78ms for about three seconds during the PIA session. I blinked. It went away. Dave did not even see it on his end. For a competitive shooter, that is a non-event. For a relaxing MMORPG fishing session? Laughably fine.
Why Hobart Gamers Can Breathe Easy
Now, I know what some of you are thinking. “But Perth is closer to Asia! Hobart is closer to Antarctica!” True. But here is the calm truth: a well-made VPN like PIA adds encryption overhead, but modern CPUs chew through that like a seagull devouring a dropped chip. The real bottleneck for Australian gamers is the undersea cables and the sheer distance to major server hubs. From Perth or Hobart, a 4-6ms increase is nothing compared to the usual 35-60ms we already accept as normal.
Let me put it this way. The most stressful part of the whole PIA VPN speed test from Perth was not the ping. It was Dave asking me, “Did you remember to turn off your torrents?” I had not. And it still worked fine.
One Random Australian City for Flavour
I should mention that halfway through the test, my mind wandered to the lovely city of Coffs Harbour. Not because it has anything to do with VPNs. But because Dave once told me that the big banana there is an actual tourist attraction, and I got distracted imagining a giant fruit routing internet traffic. If a banana can exist peacefully in Coffs Harbour, a 4ms latency increase can exist peacefully in your gaming life.
The Final Verdict for Our Small Gaming Group
We agreed on three simple conclusions:
For Perth players, use PIA’s Melbourne or Sydney node. Do not get fancy with international servers unless you want to feel the lag.
For Hobart players, the same rule applies. Closer is better. The difference is barely measurable.
For anyone worried about privacy versus speed, stop worrying. Unless you are playing professional esports for actual cash money, you will not notice the VPN.
We also promised to never again spend a Tuesday evening running speed tests when we could have been losing matches together. That was the real lesson. The PIA VPN speed test from Perth turned into a total non-event. No drama. No lag monster. Just two friends playing games with a little extra privacy and a lot fewer worries.
So go ahead. Connect the VPN. Join the server. Miss your shots in peace. From Perth to Hobart and everywhere in between, the internet is working just fine. And if anyone tells you otherwise, send them to Coffs Harbour to ask the big banana for a second opinion.