Is there really any benefit to using a VPN?

22 Tem 10:42

VPNs really do have benefits that depend on the context, bro. For example, I'm someone who's always connected to different networks like cafes, airports, and hotels. Normally, in these environments, people try to read all your traffic on those "free" WiFis. When you connect with a VPN, you don't have to worry about decryption all the time, and at least no one can snoop into my personal stuff or banking apps. Plus, you can bypass regional restrictions on Netflix, honestly, once you get used to it, you can't go without it. But yeah, performance drops aren't unheard of. My old VPN used to lose about 30% of my speed with every megabit I sent. But now there are better providers; for example, with the WireGuard protocol, you're looking at less than 5% loss. You also gotta go for those with logging advantages. I use ProtonVPN, for instance, and they're based in Switzerland, so they're proud of not storing your data. When do they come into play? Banking on open networks, transferring sensitive files, avoiding DMCA warnings while torrenting... With everyone watching everything we do online more and more, VPNs aren't a luxury anymore, they're a necessity.

22 Tem 12:25

Last year when I went on holiday to Berlin, my mind was actually a mess. I was sitting in a local café chatting with a fellow countryman, it was a casual conversation, but I had a Turkish series open on Netflix on my phone. Then someone suddenly said to me, "We're watching you, bro, this isn't a tourist spot, it's a military institution." I immediately turned on my VPN, set up Split Tunneling, which only protected Netflix traffic. Then, bro, something happened and Netflix couldn't detect my location, so I found a series that was also available in Germany. Now I swear I don't plan any overseas trips without a VPN. The biggest advantage of a VPN is security, in short. If you don't want to get phished on public Wi-Fi, you can't even use your credit card without a VPN, bro. For example, last month I was trying to access my bank with mobile data, the VPN was active but I still got an error. But actually, the VPN was off, so it means the bank's own protection was insufficient. Of course, there are downsides too, like once in Germany my VPN caused such high latency in a game that I had 200 ping while playing Valorant, it was a disaster. Go for a reliable VPN, don't use those free ones—they're slow and sell your data, bro. Now if you're asking in which situations a VPN works, I have three categories for myself: 1) **Privacy**: Banking, shopping, any kind of private data. Even when you're in your own country, local ISPs can sometimes track your data—I fell for that recently. 2) **Bypassing geo-restrictions**: Accessing local content on Netflix, Spotify, YouTube when abroad. Even when I was in Germany, I could access Turkish content thanks to a VPN. 3) **Accessing protected networks**: University networks, office VPNs... Companies usually want you to connect through their own VPN anyway. I also have a warning about logging—free VPNs usually market themselves as "no log," but these guys sell your data on the black market. Now I only use NordVPN and ProtonVPN, both of which are based in Switzerland and Norway and don’t keep logs. When it comes to performance, you should keep Split Tunneling active and only protect important traffic, otherwise sending all apps through the VPN will slow everything down.