Problems with connection (R0) lag

[Fawnlin]

If you don't mind me asking, where are you connecting to and from with the VPN?

I'm in Northern VA with FIOS, connecting to a "US East" VPN host. I have had no problems since tunneling outside of the Verizon network via the VPN client. I have 6 less hops than before.

Here is my tracert from Verizon:
Tracert results (excluding first 2 hops):

3 12 ms 10 ms 9 ms G1-6-2-4.WASHDC-LCR-22.verizon-gni.net [130.81.3
7.48]
4 8 ms 14 ms 24 ms ae6-0.RES-BB-RTR1.verizon-gni.net [130.81.199.14
6]
5 8 ms 9 ms 10 ms 0.ae2.BR3.IAD8.ALTER.NET [152.63.7.221]
6 9 ms 10 ms 9 ms ix-20-0.tcore1.AEQ-Ashburn.as6453.net [66.198.15
4.53]
7 * 40 ms 25 ms if-2-2.tcore2.AEQ-Ashburn.as6453.net [216.6.87.1
]
8 21 ms 22 ms 21 ms if-11-2.tcore2.NJY-Newark.as6453.net [216.6.87.1
38]
9 27 ms 27 ms 26 ms if-4-4.tcore2.NYY-NewYork.as6453.net [66.198.111
.18]
10 21 ms 22 ms 22 ms if-2-2.tcore2.MTT-Montreal.as6453.net [64.86.226
.13]
11 29 ms 29 ms 26 ms if-0-2.tcore1.MTT-Montreal.as6453.net [216.6.115
.89]
12 23 ms 26 ms 24 ms 64.86.31.42
13 26 ms 24 ms 25 ms te8-3.dr10.mtl.iweb.com [67.205.127.238]
14 27 ms 28 ms 27 ms 72.55.128.44
15 24 ms 22 ms 23 ms 184.107.107.176

And here is my tracert while tunneling through the VPN:

2 18 ms 20 ms 26 ms vl224-c3-11-c6-1.pnj1.choopa.net [68.232.186.241
]
3 23 ms 24 ms 23 ms ethernet11-2-br2.pnj1.choopa.net [108.61.80.13]

4 17 ms 24 ms 21 ms vl20-br1.pnj1.choopa.net [108.61.65.41]
5 20 ms 20 ms 21 ms execulink.com [198.32.160.23]
6 25 ms 27 ms 29 ms te8-2.cr2.mtl.iweb.com [67.205.127.117]
7 28 ms 27 ms 26 ms te8-4.dr10.mtl.iweb.com [67.205.127.82]
8 29 ms 26 ms 28 ms 72.55.128.44
9 29 ms 29 ms 29 ms 184.107.107.176

As you can see, the route shares very few of the same hops, so it's tough to say precisely where the problem might be.