Peer relay provides better performance than DERP for blocked direct connections

When direct connections fail, peer relay connections through another device in the same tailnet offer significantly lower latency (3-5ms range) compared to DERP relay connections (50-280ms range), especially when DERP server is geographically distant.

When direct connections are not possible, deploy a Tailscale Peer Relay server within your infrastructure. Peer relay runs in your own infrastructure, avoiding gateway traversal and reducing latency compared to DERP servers. Monitor 'tailscale ping' output - peer relay shows 'via peer-relay' with consistently lower latency than 'via DERP'.