You might have heard this term VPN many times – if you want to binge-watch a show on Netflix ( But only available in the US).
Or you might have been suggested to use VPN when you might have torrented some files from the internet.
Well, What is VPN then?
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network
First, I will explain what a private network is to you.
If you have Wi-Fi in your home and can access the internet through it, it is a private network.
You are the only one – who is going to use that network
If you are using a public WIFI that anyone can connect to that network but not owned by you, it is a public network.
If somebody else owns that public Wi-Fi, they will see what you are doing on the internet.
They can have all the logs of the websites you visit and what else you do.
Now, let’s come to the part of the Virtual private network.
Suppose you have private Wi-Fi at home to access the internet. You would have been assigned a specific IP address by the ISP (Internet Service provider).
Internet service providers are those who establish a connection for you to connect to the internet.
And hence they provide you the internet – they can still see the logs of the websites you have visited through the internet they have provided to you.
You will not be able to mask yourself up.
That’s where the part of VPN comes from.
Imagine a road where you are driving a car, and a helicopter above is in the watch—All the time.
The driver is you, the internet is the car, and the helicopter is the ISP (Internet service provider).
They can watch all the time – where you go and what route you take.
And now, Imagine if a tunnel comes in the road. While you are passing through the tunnel – the helicopter will be unable to see what you are doing and when you will return at the end of the tunnel.
VPN acts as a tunnel for you in this case.
No matter where ever you use it – it will hide your activity on the internet from the people who provide the internet and as well as from the people you visit on the internet.
It will give you virtually another IP address to be used as a mask to reach the websites.
By using VPNs, you will protect yourself from the websites that collect your IP address to redirect ads based on the sites you visit.
When using the internet – you are constantly sending and receiving electrical signals.
The Ip address is used to send and receive those signals. And If you were caught doing something illegal on the internet – You can be caught back by finding your IP address. Your IP address will lead to your device and where you are located physically.
To cover up your physical location, you can use VPN. If you use VPN – you will be given a Virtual IP address. Then If you use the internet, your device will be sending signals to the virtual IP address, and then the signals will be redirected to the sites you want to visit.
The exact process will go through while receiving the signals – the signals will come through the Virtual IP address. The sites you visit might only log the fake IP address you have provided virtually. You have saved yourself from being tracked on the internet by this process.
But because the signals are going through the intermediator VPN and not directly from you – the internet connection might seem slow. What happens is you will usually send and receive signals at a slower rate than when you were using your original IP address.
