A VPN creates a secure connection between you and the internet. When you connect to the internet through a VPN, all your data traffic is sent through an encrypted virtual tunnel. This has multiple advantages:

You’ll be more anonymous on the internet: your real IP address and location will be hidden.
You’ll be safer on the internet: the encrypted tunnel will keep away hackers and cybercriminals and your device won’t be as vulnerable to attacks.
You’ll be freer on the internet: by using different IP addresses, you’ll be able to access websites and online services that would otherwise be blocked.
Do you want to start using a VPN? We recommend ExpressVPN. This VPN has a lot of options, offers strong security, and has performed well in our tests. It even managed to take the number one spot!

More and more people have heard about VPNs or use one already. On the page below you can find out what a VPN is, how it works and what advantages and possibilities a VPN brings you. We’ll also tell you about a couple of excellent VPN providers you might want to try out yourself.

What is a VPN?
Back to the basics. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. Using a VPN is an easy and efficient way to increase your online safety, privacy and freedom.

When you’re using the internet, there is a constant process of your device exchanging data with other parties on the web. A VPN creates a secure tunnel between your device (e.g. smartphone or laptop) and the internet. The VPN allows you to send your data via an encrypted, secure connection to an external server: the VPN server. From there, your data will be sent onward to its destination on the internet.

Rerouting your internet traffic through a VPN server has several advantages. First, it helps you hide your identity online. Second, it secures your data. And third, it allows you to use the internet more freely.

Video Explainer: What is a VPN?
For those who are visually oriented, we made a short video to explain what a VPN is exactly and how it works. This will help you understand how to use a VPN to improve your security online. Enjoy! The article continues below the video.

How Does a VPN Work?
Connecting to a VPN is generally quite simple. After subscribing to a VPN provider, you download and install the VPN software. You then select a server you want to connect to and the VPN will do the rest.

When the connection has been established, the following will happen to your data:

The VPN software on your computer encrypts your data traffic and sends it to the VPN server through a secure connection. The data also goes through your Internet Service Provider, but they can no longer snoop because of the encryption.
The encrypted data from your computer is decrypted by the VPN server.
The VPN server will send your data on to the internet and receive a reply, which is meant for you, the user.
The traffic is then encrypted again by the VPN-server and is sent back to you.
The VPN-software on your device will decrypt the data so you can actually understand and use it.
The VPN application runs in the background of your computer, tablet, or smartphone. You can access the internet as you normally would and won’t notice anything different – save for the fact that you’ll be able to get around online restrictions.

What Advantages Does a VPN Offer?
There are many different reasons to use a VPN. The most common reasons are online anonymity, safety and freedom (unblocking restricted or censored material). We’ll explain further:

Advantage 1: Anonymity online
Without a VPN your location and even your identity can be traced without too much hassle, thanks to your IP address. This IP address is unique to your internet connection. It is like an online postal code that tells people who you are and where you are at. It enables people to connect your online behavior to you.

A VPN hides your IP address and location. When you use a VPN, your internet traffic is rerouted through an external server and your online activities can only be traced back to the IP address of the VPN server, but no longer to your IP address and you.

By using a VPN, websites, marketeers, streaming services, governments and cybercriminals can no longer identify you with your IP address, because they only see the IP address of the VPN server you’re connected to. Moreover, they won’t be able to find out your real location, because to others it will look like you are where the VPN server is.

So by using a VPN your online activity will no longer be linked to your own IP address. This way you can browse the internet with more anonymity.

Advantage 2: Protection against hackers and governments
A VPN encrypts your data traffic through strong encryption protocols, which make intercepting and reading your data almost impossible. Why is this important? Well, in this day and age there are a lot of parties that want to listen in or take a look at what you are doing online.

There are many different parties that are interested in your internet traffic, among them are governments and cybercriminals. The security a VPN offers makes it a lot harder for them to look at your data. This increases your online safety.

We have to mention that a VPN isn’t the ultimate solution to all things cybercrime. We always recommend combining a VPN with a good antivirus solution so you cover all your bases.

Advantage 3: Secure browsing on public networks
Using a public Wi-Fi network can be very risky. Other users on the same network (for example hackers) can easily tap into your data and personal information. Since you don’t want others to have access to, for instance, your email login, images/files or credit card information it might be wise to use a VPN connection.

The VPN encrypts all of your data while you use the public Wi-Fi network. A hacker will only see encrypted matter and won’t be able to see or use your personal information.

Advantage 4: Fight online censorship
In a lot of countries (like China, Turkey, Russia, Iran) governments heavily censor the internet. These countries block access to certain internet services and websites. Examples of apps and websites that are often blocked are WhatsApp, Google, Instagram, YouTube, Skype, Spotify and Facebook. Moreover, news websites and journalist platforms are often blocked because they are seen as a threat to the sitting government. In these countries this censorship heavily impacts the freedom of speech of their citizens.

In some western countries there are also online restrictions.  For example, many countries block the Pirate Bay website because they do not want their citizens to download illegal materials.

A VPN can help you bypass censorship and restrictions by allowing you to connect to a server in a different country. By doing this you can go online as if you were in that other country. This way you can gain access to websites and services that are not available in your own country.

Advantage 5: Bypass geographical restrictions
It’s not just countries that impose restrictions on the internet. Some online services also restrict access to their content in certain regions. This happens with streaming services that only have broadcasting rights in certain countries and not in others.

If you are on holiday or you moved to a different country, you might be unable to view your usual streams. A VPN will also enable you to connect to the internet via servers in your home country, so you can watch your favorite show or access blocked websites again. It also works the other way around: if you want to gain access to websites or streaming services from a different country (for example to watch a different version of Netflix), you can do so with a VPN.

Advantage 6: Anonymous downloading
Downloading certain Torrents is illegal in some countries and more than ever before downloaders are tracked down and sometimes even prosecuted. Of course, we are not advocating any illegal actions. However, we do understand people want online privacy and anonymity, not just when browsing the internet, but also when uploading and downloading files.

To make sure nobody knows what you are downloading or uploading you can use a VPN. Because of the encrypted traffic and the rerouted IP address you can download anonymously with a VPN.

Advantage 7: Prevent a digital file
Advertising networks such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter are constantly collecting information about you through your online traffic. With this information, they can show you tailored ads but more importantly, they are free to sell this information to a third party. By encrypting your data using a VPN these networks will have a harder time collecting information on you. They will also have less influence on what you see online

Advantage 8: Access to your company’s network
More and more companies are giving people the possibility to work from home, or abroad for instance. Some people connect to the internet via a VPN to access the company network at home. This enables people to work from home safely and efficiently.

What Limitations do VPNs Have?
A VPN has a lot to offer when it comes to privacy and security. However, it’s not the end all be all of cybersecurity and privacy. To browse the web safely and anonymously, you’ll need to observe some extra privacy measures, on top of using a VPN connection. For instance, you’ll still have to clear your cookies regularly. Moreover, there are also things a VPN simply can’t do.

Say you’re logged in to your Google account, you can be connected to a VPN on the other side of the world, Google will still be able to create a profile of you as an internet user. After all, they’ll simply correlate your search history with your account information, regardless of whether you change your IP address or not. The same is true for services like Facebook.

There are more ways in which online entities can determine your identity which a VPN doesn’t protect you from. When using Google Maps, for instance, you’re often required to turn on GPS. This means Google Maps can see exactly where you are. There are also more advanced ways that are used to identify internet users, such as browser fingerprinting. This method uses your browser’s and device’s settings to distinguish you from other internet users.

Moreover, a VPN can slow down your internet. Your data has to be sent through the VPN server, which means it can take slightly longer to end up where it needs to be. However, there are several effective ways to increase internet speeds while connected to a VPN.

And then there’s the fact that VPN users are sometimes actively thwarted. VPNs are banned in some countries. There are also websites, apps and services that will deny you access if you use a VPN.

In other words, a VPN does significantly improve your online privacy and safety and is a vital part of your privacy and security precautions. However, it’s important to be aware of the limitations that VPNs have and the additional measures required to compensate for these limitations. Fortunately, we have an article that highlights these measures and helps you to be anonymous online.

Is a VPN Safe?
You may wonder how safe you are with a VPN provider. Your internet traffic is redirected and runs through the servers of the VPN provider. The provider can see everything you do if it would want to. Therefore, it’s important that you have confidence in your VPN service. Most VPN services do not log what you do and won’t store your data.

However, there are VPN services that abuse the data that travels through their servers and sell your data to advertisers, for example. This is especially the case with free VPNs. These are often not safe. Before using a VPN, it is therefore important that you do research in advance. We’ll give you a few recommendations for good and secure VPN services later in this article.

Does a VPN Slow Down Your Internet Connection?
Some people doubt whether they should use a Virtual Private Network because they’ve heard it can slow down your internet connection. It’s true that some VPNs have this effect. After all, a VPN redirects your connection through a remote server. This takes longer, so it could slow down your internet connection. However, this isn’t always the case.

There are many VPNs that do everything in their power to make your internet connection as fast as it can be (and sometimes even faster than you’re used to). If you want to make sure you end up with a fast VPN, check out our research on the fastest VPNs of this moment. All VPNs we recommend there have proven to work perfectly and cause little to no delays. Streaming, gaming, and browsing will go as fast as normal, only with increased freedom, security, and privacy.

If your internet speed is artificially restricted by your ISP or another party, a VPN can actually make your connection faster. The VPN ensures this limit no longer applies to you, so you can use the full potential of your connection.

Is Using a VPN Legal?
Some people wonder whether it’s legal to use a VPN. After all, the service enables you to become a lot more anonymous online, which can be quite useful for hackers and online criminals. If those people can’t be traced online, it’s much harder to punish them for their crimes, after all. Even so, this doesn’t necessarily mean a VPN is illegal.

On the contrary: many official companies and businesses work with VPNs and recommend their use. The European Union, too, supports internet freedom, which a VPN can give you.

Many countries consider the use of a VPN completely legal. Conducting illegal activities while using a VPN, however, remains illegal. Therefore, using a VPN for legal activities, such as browsing, gaming, Netflix, and YouTube, isn’t a problem at all. If you use a VPN to, for example, download illegal files such as unofficial copies of movies and music, however, you’re most likely going against your local laws. While the VPN gives you more anonymity online and makes it a lot harder for officials to trace you down, the downloading in and of itself is still illegal.

There are a couple of countries that do consider the use of a VPN illegal. If you’d like to know more about these countries and the legal and illegal use of VPNs in general, you can read this article. Using a VPN in most of the (Western) world won’t get you into any trouble. On the contrary: we’d recommend it.