What does a VPN actually do, and is it worth paying for one?
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) hides your IP address and encrypts the data travelling between your computer and the internet, so your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and anyone else watching, can’t see which websites you’re visiting or what you’re sending and receiving.
In short, a VPN does two jobs: it disguises who and where you are, and it scrambles your data so it can’t be read in transit. Below I’ll walk through exactly how that works, when a VPN genuinely helps, and where the marketing oversells what it can do.
What Does a VPN Do?
Every device that connects to the internet has an IP address. Think of it like a phone number — it identifies your device the same way a phone number identifies a phone.
Every website you visit can see your IP address. It’s effectively a trail you leave behind as you move around the internet.
When you turn on a VPN, the IP address that websites see belongs to the VPN server, not your own device. That’s the core of what a VPN does: it stands in between you and the internet, so what’s left in the trail is the VPN’s address instead of yours.
You can see your own IP address right now by searching “what is my IP address” on Google.
The results page won’t just show the number; it’ll usually show your approximate location and even which ISP you’re using.
Your ISP Can See Everything You Do Online
All your internet traffic — every site, every download — passes through your ISP’s network on its way to you. They can see it, and in many cases they log it. Not a person watching in real time, but automated systems compiling records of your activity.
A VPN Encrypts Your Data
The VPN encrypts everything passing between your device and its servers. Your ISP can still see that data is flowing, but not what’s in it. That’s the privacy half of the equation: hiding the destination is one thing, hiding the contents is another, and a VPN does both.
How Does a VPN Work?
To use a VPN, you sign up for a service (paid or free), then install a small app on your device.
Switch it on, and two things happen at once: your visible IP address changes to the VPN server’s address, and your traffic gets encrypted before it leaves your device.
If you check your IP address before and after connecting, you’ll see it change completely — different number, different location, sometimes a different country entirely.
VPN Tunnelling, in Plain English
You’ll often see VPN providers talk about a “secure tunnel.”
This just means your data gets wrapped up (encrypted and encapsulated) before it travels to the VPN server, so anyone intercepting it along the way sees scrambled nonsense rather than readable information.
The technical term is tunnelling, but the everyday effect is simple: nobody between you and the VPN server can read what you’re sending.
What A VPN Protects You From (And What It Doesn’t)
This is where a lot of VPN advertising gets misleading. Here’s a realistic breakdown.
| A VPN Does Protect You From | A VPN Does NOT Protect You From |
|---|---|
| Your ISP seeing which sites you visit | Viruses and malware |
| Snooping on public Wi-Fi (cafes, airports) | Phishing emails and scam websites |
| Websites seeing your real location/IP | Being tracked via cookies or your Google/account logins |
| Regional content restrictions on some sites | The VPN provider itself seeing your activity |
| ISP throttling based on what you’re doing | Total anonymity |
Are VPN Services Oversold?
Largely, yes. Even with a VPN running, you’re not anonymous.
The VPN provider itself can see what you’re doing, and since you created an account with them, they know who you are.
Some VPNs do log activity despite claiming not to, so the provider’s privacy policy matters more than its advertising.
Claims that a VPN protects you from viruses and malware are also overstated. A handful of services bundle basic antivirus features, but nothing that outperforms the antivirus protection you should already be running on your PC.
When Should You Actually Use a VPN?
For most home users, there are two genuinely useful situations:
- Public Wi-Fi — Coffee shops, airports, hotels. Anyone else on that network could potentially intercept unencrypted traffic, especially if you’re logging into accounts. A VPN closes that gap.
- Geolocation and streaming — Connecting via a server in another country lets you check how a website looks abroad, or in some cases access content that’s region-locked. I do this myself to test how this site displays to visitors in the US, by connecting through a US-based server.
Do I Need a VPN at Home?
If you’re only ever on your own home Wi-Fi, the privacy benefit is smaller — you’re mainly stopping your ISP from logging which sites you visit.
That’s still a legitimate reason some people use one, but it’s a different use case from the public Wi-Fi scenario above, where the security benefit is much more concrete.
Does a VPN Slow Down Your Internet?
Yes. A VPN adds an extra hop to your connection, so some slowdown is unavoidable regardless of what the adverts promise about “ultra-fast servers.”
How noticeable it is depends entirely on your setup, the server you connect to, and your normal connection speed.
The most reliable way to find out is to use a free trial. Test two or three providers at different times of day, and if streaming is your main use case, confirm you can actually reach the streaming service you want before committing.
Free Vs Paid?
So this is a question I get asked more often than any other when discussing VPNs with clients. Is it OK to use a free service VPN service or should you pay for one?
My answer is always the same, pay.
It costs a lot of money to maintain servers on the internet and develop applications to connect your devices to those servers. Why should anyone do that and then let you use it for free?
While there are companies that will give away software and services when it isn’t actually costing them anything, no-one is going to invest capital in providing a free service, that’s not much of a business plan.
My simple advice is to be very wary of “free” VPN services. A free trial is one thing, completely free is something else entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Summary
A VPN does two things well: it hides your IP address and encrypts your internet traffic.
It’s genuinely useful on public Wi-Fi and for occasional geolocation needs, but it’s not antivirus software and it won’t make you fully anonymous.
If you’re serious about protecting your identity, pairing a VPN with a virtual machine or Windows Sandbox adds another useful layer, alongside keeping your PC updated and running regular virus scans.
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