TCP vs UDP VPN downloading question

So I just started using a VPN a little bit ago. I have a small knowledge of TCP and UDP, basically I know TCP guarantees packet delivery but is much slower, whereas UDP does not but is much faster. My question is which is better for downloading? Would it be TCP because of the guaranteed delivery or would it be UDP because of the speed. Mind you I get 50mbps down with no VPN. With UDP VPN connection I only have a 1~3% loss of speed (which makes sense because of the way the protocol works). When i connect with TCP I only get 6mbps down which is like an 80% decrease? Like I said my networking knowledge isn't that great (I am still learning about it in school) but should it be that drastically different? Is it worth the drop in speed for guaranteed delivery for TCP? I haven't tried downloading anything yet, I just used speedtest.net. Also the VPN I am using is NordVPN.  

I'm no total expert, but my understanding is that UDP is what you should use except in cases where data integrity is the absolute TOP priority. I've been using UDP for a VPN I host on my pfSense box, and I've never had any issues out of it. I've used RDP and VNC, SSH, FTP, and a number of things where data integrity at least matters some, and never had any issues other than "Connection Timed Out" if I'm on a really crappy 3G connection.

I'd stick with UDP, as long as it doesn't give you fits. Don't fix something that's not broken :P 

 

Data integrity isn't built in to UDP but that doesn't mean that the things which use it don't have their own method of data integrity. The reason UDP works better for VPNs is because it doesn't have as much overhead as TCP. When you use a VPN you have a httppacket inside a TCP packet inside a Vpn packet inside a UDP packet. Network packets are limited to 1500 bytes and each packet uses a certain number of bytes for its header, so each packet contained within another packet adds overhead and ultimatly reduces the amount of actual data per packet.

The only reason You should use TCP for a VPN is if you're stuck behind a firewall which blocks the UDP port.

 

Thank you for clearing that up for me!!

I think I'll stick with UDP! Thanks!