Really rookie questions re Virtual Private Networks

[Frank James]

I have been reading and trying to understand how a VPN might work. Say a customer lives in a guesthouse or hotel, and accesses the internet via the hotel's system. If one subscribes to a VPN service ($12.95 a month unlimited, is that good?), then uses the hotel's connection, is the download limit then removed? Is the customer merely using a doorway, and his actions not affecting other clients on the hotel system? Or is this destructive to the hotel system and unfair to other users? Is the download limit then removed, and not noted by the host system (TOT, 3BBB, True, etc.)? If one is doing a lot of downloading, does it affect the other customers on the house system?

When the customer is out on the road, using Wi Fi hotspots for access to the VPN service, is the gateway service affected? That is, if I am at a coffee shop with WiFi in the US, do I still have access to my VPN service, and not affecting the internet service at the coffee shop?

I've looked through the articles about VPN, and it seems they get technical very quickly. This is a new area of interest for me, and I want to understand it better, before I commit to signing up for a service. Thanks for reading this rookie stuff.

[mikebike]

All a VPN does is make you APPEAR to be accessing the internet from a different (chosen yourself) location on the planet. It is useful in viewing location based content such as TV from your home country, or for nefariously accessing internet sites which are blocked/illegal where you are currently located such as gambling websites and pornography.

A VPN has ABSOLUTELY NO AFFECT on your local internet usage - your download limit remains the same, you are still using your host's (guesthouse/hotel) bandwidth and your usage will be noticed by other users of the guesthouse/hotel's network. High volume downloading WILL be seen by network administrator and noticed by others using the network.

If you are at a coffee shop with WiFi in the US you will still have access to VPN VPN service BUT you WILL be affecting service at the shop - all a VPN does is disguise your location to content providers it DOES NOT alter the fact that you are accessing the internet from whatever point and consuming bandwidth and megabytes.

Hope that helps!

[MKAsok]

A VPN isn't going to get around any bandwidth cap by your ISP.

The answer to your second point is no, using a VPN in a cofee shop or wherever isn't going to affect your ability to use the VPN (unless the provider has taken specific measures against VPNs - unlikely).

[Chicog]

I don't see anything wrong with downloading torrents in a hotel providing it's when most people are asleep, e.g. 2am-6am or something. Plus you can throttle it down and limit what you use.

[Frank James]

Thanks folks. Sounds like the only benefit of the VPN is the alleged anonymity. I have no interest in porn, which lost its appeal for me a long time ago. I was going a bit heavy on downloading on a public in-house network, and was hoping there might be some way to use the connection but not affect the system itself. Not possible, it sounds like. (?)

[moradave]

I have been using hola.org a free, VPN, unblocker for over a year. I used it first on an excellent TOT/ADSL apartment system in Pattaya and now on a rather crappy WiFi unliimited use system in my apartment in Bangkok. As far as I know, there have been no problems for either system. If there are problems, I guess the system operator will either block you, just as they now block torrents on my current WiFi system, OR, they will ask you to stop using it.

Edited February 19, 2014 by moradave

[davejones23]

Thanks folks. Sounds like the only benefit of the VPN is the alleged anonymity. I have no interest in porn, which lost its appeal for me a long time ago. I was going a bit heavy on downloading on a public in-house network, and was hoping there might be some way to use the connection but not affect the system itself. Not possible, it sounds like. (?)

I don't know why you mention porn. Anyway, suppose you want to access BBC website from your hotel, the connection goes straight to BBC, but with VPN it goes hotel to VPN to BBC to VPN to your hotel. It's useful for things like accessing PayPal in another country. e.g. my PayPal account in USA based and I can't access it via a Thailand logon. So I connect to a VPN in USA and then PayPal, so PayPal think I'm in USA.That's all there is to it. More or less.

[FinChin67]

VPN connection (corporate or from higher end service provider) is also encrypted which is the most important issue when connecting, for example, in China. China is snooping on every single packet leaving and arriving to your computer so VPN is essential to keep communications (somewhat) more secure. You will also not notice any "dropped" connections and timeouts.

I would advise to use VPN also in public access points.

It does not "avoid" or "go around" any bandwidth caps etc. It is using the same amount of resources - bandwidth and data volume - if it's on or off.

[wpcoe]

Currently there are non-porn web sites that, for whatever reason, can't be accessed without a VPN. e.g. TigerDirect.com is not available without a VPN using True. Using a VPN, the site loads just fine.

[RandomSand]

It's basically like as in the Pic. Traffic is encrypted inside the VPN tunnel but the tunnel still goes through the ISP. For the tunnel to be secure the user must also funnel DNS into the tunnel. It's not really 100% secure unless you're a guru or hire a consultant. btw; I am neither.

Edited February 26, 2014 by RandomSand

[FinChin67]

Currently there are non-porn web sites that, for whatever reason, can't be accessed without a VPN. e.g. TigerDirect.com is not available without a VPN using True. Using a VPN, the site loads just fine.

I am on optical connection at my home and it seems Thailand has been stepping up censorship (due to demonstrations?). I have my VPN on basically all the time, even for Youtube... However, it's not even close to the situation in China where virtually all packets are checked. Without VPN in China there's no internet. They are however very "clever" implementing the great firewall of China... It usually seems that the website itself has a problem (timeout etc..) or you get few lines and then nothing. They might also put a temporary few minute "ban" on your IP address if you look for something sensitive.

OK, this gets now off topic already...