Is there any reason to use a VPN at home?
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Hi Leo. Wondering if a VPN service might be useful at home on my personal Wi-Fi? I use my desktop and my Android smartphone there. I know it’s useful elsewhere.
A VPN or Virtual Private Network is usually offered by a service that then encrypts all of your internet activity between your computer and their service.
Usually, a VPN isn’t particularly useful at home, but there are a few scenarios it might make sense.
VPNs and encryption
First, a quick review of what a VPN has to offer you.
Let’s say you visited askleo.com (and of course I hope you do – often 🙂). This connection is not encrypted. (See footnote below.) What that means is that the pages you’re ordering from Ask Leo! The pages themselves while they are downloaded and viewed on your computer are already visible to anyone who can intercept your Internet connection.
The most common scenario is an open Wi-Fi hotspot for example, where a person sitting in a corner with a laptop can listen to unencrypted conversations.
On the other hand, many websites you visit be encrypted. Anything containing https, for example, is encrypted. Interceptors can’t see the contents of the conversation, but they can Make sure that you are having a conversation, for example, with your bank or your email service.
The VPN is in the middle. You connect to a VPN service first; This connection is encrypted so that no one can see what is happening over it and all your internet activity is routed through this connection.
When you then visit a non-encrypted site, such as askleo.com, your computer connects to it via VPN service connection to its server. So no one in a coffee shop’s open Wi-Fi, for example, can see what you’re up to. The VPN service server connects, without encryption again, making this the last stage of the site you’re visiting.
Not only can that person in the corner of the coffee shop not be able to see the pages you are viewing, they can’t even see the sites you visit Absolutely. This applies to https sites, as well as email and other links, as well as plain old http. The connection might be a little slower because it has to go through this extra server, but it’s fully encrypted as it makes the last hop to and from your computer.
VPN utility
Now, we know that a VPN can be valuable in situations like opening Wi-Fi hotspots at that coffee shop I was talking about. It’s a very effective way to protect yourself from that creepy guy in the corner with his laptop. But what about the house?
Well, a VPN can come in handy at home if your internet is provided by someone you don’t completely trust. For example, when a roommate, landlord, or neighbor is the one providing you with an internet connection, a VPN can go a long way in securing your privacy. This is true whether the connection is wired or wireless.
Remember, no matter who provides your internet actually has the ability to know what data is being transferred between your computer and the internet. Your ISP can see anything they might be interested in and in these cases, your roommate, landlord, neighbor or anyone else – is being Your Internet Service Provider for all practical purposes. They provide you with the internet and with enough knowledge on their part, they can hack into the unencrypted contents of your connection.
Another scenario that comes to mind is the site, or rather an attempt to get around site-specific restrictions. For example, you are in country A and you want to access a site in country B, but you can’t for any reason. This most commonly happens when videos are blocked based on where you live. One solution that sometimes works is to use a VPN service that is located in country B, or another country that does not have the same restriction.
As for the website or the video, it looks like you’re coming from the country of the VPN – not your own. Sometimes, this works. Again, depending on what you’re doing, performance can be an issue, especially with video.
Those are the two items I can think of. As long as your router is secured and your Wi-Fi is using something like a WPA or WPA2 password, then in general, you probably don’t need a VPN at home. Most VPN services are designed for the traveler who regularly uses open, untrustworthy hotspots and other internet connections on the road.
: At the time of writing this article, askleo.com is not encrypted. Since that time I’ve switched to using https for all connections, so that statement is no longer true. Comments, instead, apply to any site you visit Not Use https.
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