Even if I am connected to ProtonVPN and not engaged in activity, Starlink will artificially cut my speed to 1/3. When I disconnect, the speed will go back up. Maintaining a vpn requires very very little data, so it's not that.
The test is conducted on a secondary device not connected via a VPN, using the starlink speed test.
This has happened 5 times now so it's very consistent. Not sure why they are punishing users (or just me) for using a VPN
There's almost no basic VPN that is going to give you anywhere close to your stock speed. By using a VPN, you're adding more hops to the journey for every single bit of data, more routers it has to pass through to go from A to B - that slows down your data. The only thing punishing you is physics and internet logistics.
That is my understanding as well. I look at VPN as like having another person in the loop. That is, you send all your keystrokes to him and he re-types them into another computer. When he gets the response he forwards that on to you.
OK, that second person is actually another computer but even so it is another delay in the system.