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To VPN or Not, that is the question.

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I'm sometimes asked, "Should I get a VPN? Will it make me safer?” In general, I answer "No.” But here's a simple explanation of what a VPN does and when it can be useful.

Security

A VPN sells the service of privately connecting you to the Internet. If that company is more trustworthy than the router you are connecting to, then you have improved your security. So, you are paying money to connect through a third party. However, they could be collecting your information to sell and might be less trustworthy than your ISP or your own router. This is useful with a laptop, if you travel a lot and connect to many places. Hotels and restaurants could have poor security. If you must work in those places, and don't connect via your cell provider, then using a trustworthy VPN provider is helpful. However, if you have a tower computer in your office and connect through your own router and ISP, then you are not more secure going through a third-party source.

What is required for a company to prove their trustworthiness? Certainly, a reputation earned over time, and many positive reviews. But also, the company must pay for third-party audits and openly display the results.

From a security perspective, the additional software you will be running for the VPN, and the intermediary service isn't worth it in your own home or office, but is if you are mobile. VPNs are known to sometimes cause conflicts.

Privacy

Since you connect securely to the VPN service, if they destroy their records quickly, you are private. Your IP address will be unknown, and even your ISP won't know where you are going. You will be seen going to the VPN service, and stuff will come back from the VPN service, not a store or other website. Those other websites won't have access to your address either because they will only see whatever address the VPN service assigns to your traffic as it leaves the VPN. Your IP address is often used to track you and compile information about you.

From a privacy perspective, you will increase your privacy if you use a good VPN service.

Out of the country

VPN services can let you connect to any of their dozens or hundreds of servers located all over the world. So, when you are in another country, you can appear to Xfinity or Netflix to be connecting from the United States. Streaming services may pay for the rights to show a movie in the United States. If you are visiting Europe, and connect to that service, they may not be able to show you the movie because they are not entitled to show it in Europe. But, if you connect to a United States server with your VPN, and then connect to your streaming service, you can appear to be in the United States.

Streaming services do work to block this option because the content owners (movie studios etc.) don't want this bypass. However, access relocation is one of the driving reasons people choose a VPN service.

Choosing a service

If you decide to try a VPN service, then you need to be careful and select one with a good track record, good reviews from knowledgeable sources and external audits. After that, consider their optional features. Like many services, when many companies offer similar services at similar prices, they differentiate themselves with optional services. Perhaps some add-ons would be useful, and the package is cheaper than the parts.

A few good VPN Services

1. Proton VPN. This is an excellent service, and an excellent company. For limited service, they offer a free account! It is the best option I've seen for your mobile devices if you rarely need it. Their paid tier is expensive. A 24-month plan costs $4.49/month ($107.76).
2. NordVPN: Conflicts with Spideroak One Backup, but is generally well regarded. Somewhat more complex than some other alternatives, but that also gives you more options if you like to tinker. $3.09/month for the basic plan for 27 months ($83.43). $3.99/mo. for 27 months ($107.73) with some advanced options that are probably worthwhile.
3. Express VPN: Simple, and has been considered a great service for many many years. It has the best reputation. This is the Cadillac option. It offers a 28-month plan for $140 or $5/month that includes a credit scanner and data broker removal service which removes you from any of 110 data brokers, people searches, and government services. The plan also offers credit checks and $1 million identity theft insurance.
4. SurfShark is owned by the same company as NordVPN, but is cheaper and simpler. It offers a 27-month plan for $72.63 or $2.69 a month. I think this is the best bargain service. They also offer a plus service for 4.29 a month for 27 months ($115.83). That service includes Incogni data removal service, which removes your name from over 212 data brokers and people search sites. I pay more than that just for Incogni.