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Reading measurement evidence: probes, limits, and open results
How to read the evidence table behind a location's status: probes, networks, fastest reply, distance limits, discarded probes, and why many results stay open.
Key points
- Every measured location has an evidence table: one row per probe, with its city, network, fastest reply, and what that reply rules out.
- A row “rules it out” when the probe is farther from the listed country than its reply allows.
- 346 of 1,126 measured locations have no conclusion yet. That is honest, not a failure.
Where to find the evidence
Open a provider page, then a country in its location table. The country page of that provider shows each measured location with three boxes (what the list says, the measurement, the status) and the evidence table.
The columns of the evidence table
| Column | What it means |
|---|---|
| Probe | the city and country of the measuring computer |
| Network | the network the probe sits in |
| Fastest reply | the shortest round-trip time of its pings |
| Endpoint is within | the distance limit from that reply |
| Distance from probe to stated country | how far the probe is from the listed country; “in the country” if inside |
| Result | “rules it out”, “rules nothing out”, or “discarded” |
Reading a row
A row rules the country out when the distance to the country is larger than the limit, plus the margin for imprecise probe locations. One such row is an observation; it takes at least 2 independent rows, and for locations the provider does not mark as virtual a second day, before the status becomes “server outside the country”.
Why many results stay open
Most probes sit in data centers in a limited number of cities. If no probe is near the listed country, every reply is slow, every limit is large, and nothing can be ruled out or confirmed. The result is “no conclusion possible”. Measurements continue, and a later run may add a closer probe.
 hide.me | 86 % | |
|---|---|---|
 IVPN | 78 % | |
 Mullvad | 75 % | |
 OVPN | 75 % | |
 AzireVPN | 69 % | |
 Windscribe | 68 % | |
 AirVPN | 64 % | |
 Surfshark | 49 % | |
 Private Internet Access | 47 % | |
 NordVPN | 35 % |
Providers with many locations in regions with few probes have more open results.
Discarded probes
A probe whose stated location conflicts with the others is discarded and shown crossed out. Two probes that both reach the same server cannot be farther apart than their two limits added. If they are, one of them sits somewhere else than its database says.
The path, too: when a location is ruled out, the archive traces the route from the nearest probe and shows the last named routers. Their names often hint at the city where the server really stands.
Next step
Read VPN server lists as data to see where the locations come from in the first place.
The figures in this guide come from the archive and change with every data update. As of October 17, 2026.
Check it with the archive's data
- VPN services and providers: locations, measurements, prices
- Virtual VPN locations: how many and which providers
Read next: VPN server lists as data: what providers publishAll guides