An example method may include receiving upload packets, at an interconnect server center (ISC) device from a virtual private network (VPN) client device, and the upload packets may include a header identifying the (ISC) device and a destination server as destination fields, transmitting, via the ISC device, tests packets along a plurality of different Internet pathways to identify network characteristics of the Internet pathways, determining an amount of time until one or more responses to the test packets are received, and forwarding the upload packets to a VPN server for routing to the destination server via an Internet pathway selected based on the amount of time associated with the received test packets.