VPN question

[trevor67]

I have been told I should get a VPN. The person who told me this has a dedicated internet connection.... I do not have my own line. I stay in a hotel/serviced apartment that has 30 apartments. There appears to be (2 routers?) with 15 internet connections in both. Will a VPN help me in this situation....how exactly does it work. Should I pay for a VPN or is there a free one I can download? Any help, suggestions , recommendation as well as explanations would be appeciated. My computer/internet knowledge is maybe a 4 (on a scale of 10) so please, not to technical if possible.

Thank-you

[astral]

A VPN gives you a private (encrypted) connection to the location of the VPN server

It prevents local interception and reading of your internet traffic

It also make you appear to be somewhere else, eg the UK in order to watch UK TV

There are free VPN services. for you to try

[RichCor]

Think of a VPN as a Service Apartment very discrete Concierge Service: You pick up the 'private' telephone and call down to the 'service' and tell them what you want. As they say, you can order anything, ANYTHING, and THEY then go out and get it -- but, from the point they get it they wrap it in camouflage so no-one 'on route to you' will know precisely what you asked for. All these 'no-ones' would see would be the size of the camouflaged package being delivered, and that is was delivered to you. You naughty boy.

So, you've been told you should get a VPN. Probably because you use a 'Shared Router/WiFi Connection' where others on the same connection can snoop, disrupt or possibly divert and take over your Internet session (and the same goes for the public Internet infrastructure as a whole) or, as mentioned, you desire to geo-relocate your location to allow simpler acquisition of Internet Content where being 'out of country' might prevent you viewing that content.

VPN, or Virtual Private Networks, can be created through Add-in or Add-on software on a computer, or through a Internet Hardware Device that can provide the same service to multiple-connected devices.

Just be aware that the 'Concierge' potentially keeps a little black book on all their customers. Oh, and other people using the same 'Concierge' might know what's being delivered to you since you and they are using the same service.

I'd suggest starting with the free services first. Just know that the free services usually are subsidized by in-line and pop-up advertising controlled by their software. After trying the free services look at what the pay options have to offer.

Edited April 19, 2014 by RichCor

[trevor67]

A VPN gives you a private (encrypted) connection to the location of the VPN server

It prevents local interception and reading of your internet traffic

It also make you appear to be somewhere else, eg the UK in order to watch UK TV

There are free VPN services. for you to try

Thanks for that...so it doesn't matter I'm sharing a LAN (wired connection) with essentially 30 other people, if I get a VPN they will not know I'm downloading, or that someone in the building is downloading?

[trevor67]

So, you've been told you should get a VPN. Probably because you use a 'Shared Router/WiFi Connection' where others on the same connection can snoop, disrupt or possibly divert and take over your Internet session (and the same goes for the public Internet infrastructure as a whole) or, as mentioned, you desire to geo-relocate your location to allow simpler acquisition of Internet Content where being 'out of country' might prevent you viewing that content.

Thanks RC...your going over my head here a little....having said that....not worried about the above, just want to do some downloading....and not having anyone know i'm doing it . After reading through some forum rules here...and then looking at some of the other posts on the subject, I'm not sure exactly, what were permitted to discuss.

[RichCor]

A VPN gives you a private (encrypted) connection to the location of the VPN server

It prevents local interception and reading of your internet traffic

It also make you appear to be somewhere else, eg the UK in order to watch UK TV

There are free VPN services. for you to try

Thanks for that...so it doesn't matter I'm sharing a LAN (wired connection) with essentially 30 other people, if I get a VPN they will not know I'm downloading, or that someone in the building is downloading?

[...] just want to do some downloading....and not having anyone know i'm doing it. [...]

Trevor67,

I think you need to talk to a Science Officer assigned to the United Federation of Planets, or maybe the Russians.

Using a VPN does NOT make your communications invisible. Any type of Internet Connection your equipment makes on the shared LAN will use up bandwidth. If you don't want essentially 30 other people to know you are downloading, either don't download or get a separate Internet connection.

[astral]

Others will be aware that you are downloading

but not what you are downloading.

If the building people are monitoring traffic then you may still be called to account.

I am not sure why you need the VPN??