Can VPN help with slow internet?

I'm moving to a rural area with only one terrible ISP option. Can VPN help with slow internet?

ExpressVPN might help or hurt depending on issue. VPN can improve speeds when: ISP throttles specific traffic (streaming, gaming), ISP has poor routing to certain sites (VPN provides better path), ISP deprioritizes your traffic (VPN hides traffic type). VPN will slow speeds when: your base internet is already slow (VPN adds overhead), ISP throttles all encrypted traffic (rare but happens), you're far from VPN servers. I lived in rural Montana with 10 Mbps DSL - only ISP option. ExpressVPN helped: ISP was throttling Netflix to 2 Mbps, with VPN got full 8 Mbps (they couldn't see I was streaming), routing to gaming servers improved (lower ping via VPN than direct). Didn't help with: upload speeds (VPN can't fix infrastructure), basic slow connection (if you have 1 Mbps, VPN won't make it faster). Test free trial to see if your ISP throttles. ExpressVPN's Lightway protocol has lowest overhead (loses only 5-10% speed). For rural internet, also consider: Starlink (if available), cellular hotspot backup, bonded connections.