Route picks
Which route to pick by use case
Route type sets the floor; exit city sets the ceiling. Choosing by use case works better than choosing by which country has the most nodes — within one country, the gap between a dedicated and a direct route is often bigger than the gap between two countries.
Everyday browsing: prefer a relay route whose entry is close to you. Web pages, email and documents don't mind momentary jitter but do care about the first response, so a nearby entry means a faster handshake and snappier page turns. Only accept peak-hour swings when a region offers direct routes alone and you need the coverage.
Streaming: high-bitrate playback needs sustained bandwidth, not peak speed — a single congested public hop anywhere on the path shows up as buffering. An IEPL dedicated route has a fixed path and is the first choice for video; where no dedicated route exists, fall back to relay and pick an exit city in a hub where streaming data centres cluster, so traffic takes fewer detours.
AI tools: AI services are more sensitive to a stable exit IP than to raw speed. Signing in to the same account from several countries in a short window tends to trigger re-verification or even a temporary block. Pick one relay route and stay on it instead of switching by hand; if you must change, leave a decent gap before you do.
Gaming: games care about round-trip time and jitter, not download speed. The nearest IEPL dedicated route has the shortest path, followed by a direct route in the same city; intercontinental routes stay slow on round trip even with plenty of bandwidth, so they don't suit matches where reaction delay matters.
Cross-border work and online banking: these are the cases where a mid-session drop hurts most. A fixed exit and an uninterrupted connection matter more than speed, so prefer IEPL dedicated, then relay; don't switch routes in the middle of work or a transfer, because a changed exit makes some sites ask you to verify again.