VPN.

[Konquerah]

I keep seeing random adverts to do with VPN. Is it something that's needed, do you use one and if so, have you bad any complications with gaming while using them?

 

[Alm]

I wouldn't say they were necessary. It's just an added layer of privacy or can be used to spoof a location.

I wouldn't advise for gaming as they do tend to slow your connection down.

 

[Frindis]

I use one when I want to watch Netflix/Prime in other regions. As for gaming I rarely use one and when I do I don't experience any problems. As for the VPN provider, I use Nord VPN. Do you really need it? Well, If you don't have anything you need it for, then it is basically a waste of money.

 

[Brian Boru]

Is it something that's needed

No. Unless of course you… well, need one

do you use one

No. I tried for a couple of years, to access sporting events not covered in my country, but never had reliable performance to justify the cost.

Fyi, free ones are almost always poor performers, or become poor performers after the initial userbase building is over. With free, always figure out how they're making you the product, so you can decide if you're okay with it—eg you may not mind being shown ads, but you may not like your data being sold to marketers.

complications with gaming

I never used for gaming, but as Alm said, it will slow it down—it's an extra software layer at both ends of the connection.

Change DNS

If you're experiencing slow or variable behavior from your ISP, a VPN won't help—everything you send-receive must first-last go thru your ISP, regardless of VPN use.

A possible improvement is to change your DNS provider—your internet queries go to your ISP's DNS servers, which then figure out where you're trying to reach, and send your message along the chain to the destination.

Which DNS server to use is part of your local Internet setup, which your ISP will always point to their servers. But you can change that—eg I'm currently using Google's DNS servers 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

The tool I use to make this simple is DnsJumper. You can set it up in Task Scheduler to run every so often—eg once a day—to automatically switch you to the fastest DNS available at that time. Internet load varies across the world by the minute, so various DNS servers will get overloaded at times and are best avoided then.

I don't change often, Google's are generally very good, I only go looking if I get severe slowdown for an hour or more at different sites in different browsers.

 

[Konquerah]

No. Unless of course you… well, need one


No. I tried for a couple of years, to access sporting events not covered in my country, but never had reliable performance to justify the cost.

Fyi, free ones are almost always poor performers, or become poor performers after the initial userbase building is over. With free, always figure out how they're making you the product, so you can decide if you're okay with it—eg you may not mind being shown ads, but you may not like your data being sold to marketers.


I never used for gaming, but as Alm said, it will slow it down—it's an extra software layer at both ends of the connection.

Change DNS

If you're experiencing slow or variable behavior from your ISP, a VPN won't help—everything you send-receive must first-last go thru your ISP, regardless of VPN use.

A possible improvement is to change your DNS provider—your internet queries go to your ISP's DNS servers, which then figure out where you're trying to reach, and send your message along the chain to the destination.

Which DNS server to use is part of your local Internet setup, which your ISP will always point to their servers. But you can change that—eg I'm currently using Google's DNS servers 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

The tool I use to make this simple is DnsJumper. You can set it up in Task Scheduler to run every so often—eg once a day—to automatically switch you to the fastest DNS available at that time. Internet load varies across the world by the minute, so various DNS servers will get overloaded at times and are best avoided then.

I don't change often, Google's are generally very good, I only go looking if I get severe slowdown for an hour or more at different sites in different browsers.

This was incredibly informative and some what unexpected, I'll try out the DNS Jumper at some point. My ISP is having a lot of general issues within my area but they have at least acknowledged this and are working to make it right. They do unfortunately provide the most fastest and stable connection (usually).