VPNs - What They Actually Do (And Don't Do)

You’ve seen the adverts. “Protect your privacy! Stay anonymous online! Secure your connection!” VPN companies spend millions making you feel like you need their service.

The truth is more complicated. A VPN is a useful tool, but not for the reasons the adverts claim. And for most people, most of the time, it’s not necessary.

What a VPN actually does

When you use a VPN:

1. Your device connects to the VPN company’s server
2. All your internet traffic goes through an encrypted tunnel to that server
3. The server sends your traffic out to the internet from its own address
4. Everything coming back goes through the same tunnel to your device

The result: the websites you visit see the VPN server’s IP address, not yours. And your internet provider sees encrypted traffic going to one server, not a list of every site you visit.

That’s all it does. It doesn’t make you anonymous. It doesn’t make you unhackable. It just hides your IP address from the sites you visit, and hides what you’re doing from your internet provider.

What VPNs are actually good for

Watching content from another country. This is the most common real-world use. If you’re travelling and want to watch your home country’s Netflix, or you want to access a service that’s blocked in your country, a VPN lets you appear to be somewhere else. This is against Netflix’s terms of service, but it usually works.

Using public Wi-Fi without worrying. Coffee shop Wi-Fi, hotel Wi-Fi, airport Wi-Fi - these networks are shared and could theoretically be snooped. A VPN encrypts your traffic so someone on the same network can’t see what you’re doing. This is legitimate, though the actual risk is smaller than most people think (most websites now use HTTPS, which already encrypts your traffic).

Bypassing censorship. If your government blocks certain websites (or your school or workplace does), a VPN can get around those blocks. This is a genuine use case in countries with restricted internet.

Your internet provider throttles specific services. Some ISPs slow down streaming video or torrent traffic. A VPN hides what you’re doing, so the ISP can’t throttle specific services. (Though they may throttle all VPN traffic instead.)

What VPNs are NOT good for (despite what adverts say)

“Complete anonymity” - VPN companies advertise this constantly. It’s not true. Websites still track you through cookies, browser fingerprinting, and your accounts. A VPN hides your IP address, but that’s not enough to make you anonymous. If you want real anonymity, you need Tor, not a VPN.

“Stopping hackers” - A VPN does not protect you from viruses, phishing emails, or scams. If you click a dodgy link and give your password to a fake website, a VPN won’t help. Use a password manager and common sense instead.

“Making your internet faster” - Some VPN adverts claim to speed up your connection. This is physically impossible. Your traffic has to take an extra hop through the VPN server, which adds latency. A VPN will always make your connection slightly slower, not faster.

“Privacy from your ISP” - This is technically true (the ISP can see you’re using a VPN but not what you’re doing), but the question is whether you need it. In most countries, your ISP doesn’t care what you’re doing online. If you’re not doing anything illegal, moving your trust from your ISP to a VPN company just means paying someone else to have the same data.

The real question: do you need one?

For most people, most of the time, the answer is no.

If all you do is browse the web, check email, use social media, and stream TV, you don’t need a VPN. The sites you visit already use HTTPS (check for the padlock icon in your browser’s address bar). Your traffic is already encrypted. A VPN adds nothing useful for your everyday browsing.

You might want a VPN if:

• You regularly use public Wi-Fi (airports, hotels, coffee shops)
• You want to access content from another country
• You’re in a country with restricted internet
• Your ISP is known for throttling specific services
• You’re doing something that you specifically don’t want your ISP to know about (this list is shorter than you think)

You don’t need a VPN if:

• You only use the internet at home on your own Wi-Fi
• You don’t do anything illegal or controversial
• You just want to “be more private” without knowing what that means

What about the free ones?

Do not use free VPNs. Nothing is free. Free VPNs make money by selling your data, showing you ads, or infecting your device with malware. A 2016 study found that more than a third of free Android VPNs contained malware. The rule is simple: if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.

If you want a VPN, pay for one. Expect to spend $5-10 per month.

If you decide to get one

Look for:

• A no-logs policy - they claim not to keep records of your activity. This is hard to verify. Look for providers that have been independently audited.
• A kill switch - if the VPN drops, this stops your device from sending data over the regular internet without encryption.
• Good speed - some VPNs are much slower than others. Try one month first rather than signing up for a year.
• Avoid the big names that advertise everywhere. The ones you see on YouTube and podcasts spend more on marketing than on their infrastructure.

Reputable options: Mullvad, ProtonVPN, IVPN. These are the ones that privacy experts actually recommend. They’re not the ones with the biggest advertising budgets.

What to do now

1. Decide whether you actually need a VPN (see the lists above)
2. If you don’t need one, do nothing. You’re fine.
3. If you want one, pick a reputable provider (see above) and pay monthly
4. Set it up on your phone and laptop (most have simple apps)
5. Use it when you’re on public Wi-Fi or need to access content from another country
6. Don’t leave it on all the time - it slows your connection and adds complexity for no benefit

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