Do you all use VPNs, and do you keep them on all the time? Are there real benefits, like faster video playback? Any advice or insight would be appreciated!”
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Do you all use VPNs, and do you keep them on all the time? Are there real benefits, like faster video playback? Any advice or insight would be appreciated!”
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I pay for NordVPN and use it 99% of the time. If you want to try a free VPN, I’d suggest ProtonVPN. Some times, even with the free version of ProtonVPN I can get to websites I can not get to on NordVPN. When my prepaid NordVPN subscription runs out, I’m probably going to switch to ProtonVPN.
I have one and I have it set to not connect on my home wifi, or the private wifi of anyone I visit often, like family or friends. Otherwise is connects automatically on cellular and also on any unknown wifi.
On cellular it is mainly to mask activity so my carrier doesn’t throttle my video quality. Be aware this will of course eat more of your data, if you’re not on a truly unlimited plan.
On unknown/unfamiliar wifi its just good advice to use. It’s a bit like wearing protection with a new sexual partner…you can’t blindly trust so you protect yourself.
Mullvad VPN is pretty good and $5.50 a month with 5 devices
I use Cloudflare’s free Warp 1.1.1.1 to get uncapped streaming on YouTube but I don’t use streaming services on my phones otherwise.
Warp doesn’t get blocked like typical VPNs do in my experience. I have VPN.ac for a paid VPN that I use as well and the performance on Wireguard is exceptional (I’ve had the service since 2017 and I can count on one hand the amount of time I’ve had any speed or other issues with it) but I can’t use it 24/7 because of all the app and website blocks.
Try warp or proton vpn
I’ve been using Surfshark for over two years now and it operates flawlessly and the best thing about it is devices are unlimited. They also offer terrific deals if you want to purchase in 24 or 12 month subscriptions. Streaming works flawlessly with it and my internet speeds are great. They offer a 30 day money back guarantee if you are not satisfied.
Despite the heavy marketing by VPN companies, they’re really only useful/necessary in certain scenarios.
Since they basically hide the type of traffic from your service provider, they can be useful for getting around video throttling – if your provider caps video at, say “480p quality”, if you run through a VPN, the provider can’t distinguish video traffic from anything else, and you’ll be able to bypass this limitation.
They can also be useful in overcoming certain geographical limitations. If a certain service is only available to a certain country, for example, if you pick a VPN exit node in that country, the service will think you’re there.
Finally there’s the security aspect. If you’re on some sketchy public wifi or something, it adds an additional layer of security. Some extra peace of mind basically. Some will argue that this extra layer of security is necessary all the time. If you don’t trust your ISP (be it your home internet provider or your cellular provider) then I suppose this would “protect” you in this case as well… but then you’d damn well trust your VPN provider a lot too.
Otherwise, there’s not a ton of benefit. It adds extra overhead, both from a bandwidth perspective and from a processing perspective. Basically it’ll burn your data pool faster, as well as your device battery. So you’re better off only turning it on when you need it.
Yes i use vpns and keep them on 99% of ths time. Yes when using a vpn you can stream at any resolution your phone supports as long as you’re in an area with fast enough speeds. There are some disadvantages like some websites specifically banking and what not that doesn’t work on vpns but you can also get rid of ads with a vpn that has a clean web type feature. In my opinion vpns are 100% worth it.
A VPN is “nice to have” to cover your network activity but due keep in mind it’s probably still not as secure as we could hope it to be but it adds a layer of extra security when your doing sensitive tasks online such as banking and entering passwords into sites. Terms of video you can unlock other regional locations like on Netflix based on the country of selection pretty handy I must say if you wanna watch foreign content. Video speeds will suffer but if you have a fast enough connection it shouldn’t matter much! Proton VPN is what I sometimes use but not often because I don’t fully trust anything I do is protected anyways, so go figure. Besides I prefer my shit just be out in the open anyways just because of my “situation” in life right now which is really weird to talk about but it’s a thing happening… Your welcome 
Side note: if you happen to use TextNow, I believe it’s against their ToS to use VPN, and they’ll close the account.
I pay for Nord but only because when I travel, my work email won’t work without it.
I use Cloudflare Warp/Google VPN/Apple Private Relay. They publish how they operate their VPN.
— Starfox
Same. But I have 1.5 years to go lol
Thanks for letting me know
That issue is exactly why I use Warp for general usage instead of my paid VPN because Warp has only ever been blocked by Hulu in my experience thus far.
For ads, I just use Brave.
Isnt Google VPN discontinued?..
Pixel still gets to use it.
— Starfox