Key Takeaways

  • Stay secure on public Wi-Fi: Use a VPN to encrypt your data and protect your connection from potential security risks when using public Wi-Fi networks.
  • Save money and access restricted content: By using a VPN, you can bypass region-blocking and access websites and streaming services from different countries. This can help you save money on online shopping and gain access to a wider range of content.
  • Ensure privacy and bypass censorship: VPNs allow you to maintain your privacy online and bypass government censorship or blocks on certain websites or services. However, using a VPN in certain countries may come with risks, so it's important to be cautious.

You’ve heard about VPNs, but you’re not sure if you should be using one. Perhaps you use one at work--but why should you use a VPN at home?

What Is a VPN?

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is essentially a secret tunnel between two computers, with encrypted data transferred between the two devices. Operating systems feature software for setting up a VPN from one to another on a single network.

VPN illustration
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VPN services like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, PrivadoVPN, etc., provide encrypted, private access via their VPN servers to the wider internet. Between your computer and their server, the data is hidden. It’s a good way to stay hidden online, although signing in to social networks and other accounts will mitigate privacy regardless.

Here’s Why You Should Use a VPN

It sounds good to increase your online privacy, right? But it gets better—here are the main ways people use a VPN:

  • Use public Wi-Fi safely
  • Save money by shopping online and booking holidays
  • Watch overseas Netflix libraries and beat other region-blocked services
  • Avoid government censorship
  • Ensure privacy when working remotely and collaborating online
  • Improve internet speed
  • Use peer-to-peer networks safely

Below, we’ll look further at each of these reasons why you should use a VPN.

1. Access Public Wi-Fi Securely

Everyone uses public Wi-Fi at some point. Whether in a shopping mall, transport hub, college, café, etc., there is almost certainly free Wi-Fi. But how secure is it? There isn’t any easy way to find out, but unsecured wireless routers are a problem. It’s also not easy to discern whether you’re connecting to a genuine Wi-Fi network or a fake network set up by scammers—the digital version of a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack.

Using a VPN is a great solution to this problem. A free or paid VPN subscription via a browser plugin, desktop client, or mobile app can encrypt your data, protecting any connection you make.

2. Save Money on Shopping and Flights

People at an airport
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Most VPN providers have several servers positioned around the globe. This enables region-blocking and localization to be circumvented.

One outcome of this is that you can save money when shopping online, or booking hotels, flights, and holidays. Online retailers have been shown to use “dynamic pricing” which is determined by your location and how often you visit an item to view prices.

Our guide to finding cheaper flights with a VPN explains why this happens and how you can take advantage of a VPN to get cheaper flights. The same tactic can be used on many other items, from cars and PCs to shoes and books.

3. Watch Netflix and Beat Other Streaming Restrictions

Probably the most famous use of VPNs is to take advantage of Netflix libraries from other countries. For example, in India, the collection of movies and shows you can stream is quite different to what is available in the USA.

Netflix's libraries differ from country to country, so you can easily switch location to view what is available around the world. This has a secondary benefit; if you are a frequent traveler and have a Netflix account, you can continue to watch your favorite shows from your home country, rather than be limited to the local options.

Of course, Netflix isn’t the only online streaming service; you can use most of them in the same way.

Not all VPN services offer a solution to region-blocking, so check the features before signing up.

Other localization limitations can also be avoided with a VPN. Games released in territory A can be accessed via territory B assuming you connect to a VPN server in the first location.

4. Avoid Government Censorship

Man using computer mouth gagged
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Certain countries and economic zones around the world operate brutal restrictions on human expression. Others simply block access to specific online services.

A VPN can be used to subvert these blocks, although this is not without risk. Certain countries have blocked VPNs, for example, such as China, although some reports indicate it is still possible to connect to servers owned by major VPN providers.

Encrypted internet connections cannot be observed by government operatives. As a result, dissidents and government opposition groups in oppressive states have the opportunity to gather and share information. Such activity comes with risks, of course.

5. Meet and Work Collaboratively and With Privacy

Using a VPN always brought with it a level of desirable privacy, but this became a key selling point for remote work and international collaboration following the “work from home” revolution, driven by the events of 2020.

While video chat services and online collaboration tools offer encryption, it doesn’t hurt to add an extra layer of protection. This is doubly true if you’re connected to a corporate resource.

The privacy of your work and that of your colleagues is enhanced with a VPN service.

6. Encryption Can Improve Internet Speeds

Here’s a slightly surprising use for a VPN. Despite the fact that the whole dynamic of using a VPN involves making an extra connection (to the VPN server), using one can actually speed up your internet access.

This is due to ISPs using something called “traffic shaping” to identify data passing through its nodes and prioritize accordingly. So, banking, online shopping, businesses, and other important data is given a faster route than gaming, video streaming, and standard browsing.

But as ISPs cannot identify encrypted data, it cannot be prioritized. Consequently, you will often find that encrypting your connection with a VPN has a small speed improvement for standard domestic use.

7. Use Torrent Networks Safely

uTorrent mobile app
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The final main reason to use a VPN is to safely access peer to peer networks like BitTorrent. While some torrents breach copyright and can land you in a lot of trouble, this isn’t the full story.

Torrenting, and other peer-to-peer networking, has various legal uses, from accessing public domain works to downloading Linux distributions. Some overzealous ISPs block any site with BitTorrent links, even when they provide the opportunity to download and share legitimate files.

With a VPN active on your PC or mobile device, you can access torrent files without such blocks.