To find the best VPN service for your personal or business needs, you'll need to compare brands, prices, features, and more. But first, you need to understand how a VPN accomplishes its primary mission: Keeping you safe and protecting your privacy online.
Fundamentally, most VPNs (virtual private networks) provide two services: They encrypt your data between two points and they hide the IP address (from which a general location can be derived) where you're located. For those traveling or out and about, the first function is critical because most Wi-Fi available publicly is unencrypted -- so anyone on the network can see what you were sending.
But VPNs also serve to hide your IP address, replacing the address logged on servers with one in a completely different location -- even a different country. For those worrying about stalking or other threats, this feature could save lives. Most consumers, though, find streaming VPN features compelling because -- in some cases, and with dubious legality -- it allows them to spoof their region of origin to get access to streaming media and sports blacked out from their home locale.
There is no doubt that you should use a VPN service provider when you're using public Wi-Fi when away from home. But what about when you're at home? Should you use a VPN then?
My general advice is that