With everyone talking about online security these days, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) have become common. Yet, figuring out how to use a VPN can be a bit confusing. One common question that pops up is whether you should keep your VPN on all the time, especially when you’re traveling.
To determine whether to use a VPN during travel, weigh benefits like Wi-Fi security, bypassing geo-restrictions, and overcoming censorship against drawbacks like poorer internet speed and battery life. Choose either a manual connection when needed, or sensibly pause an existing connection.
In reality, there isn’t a definitive ‘right’ answer. While having your VPN on 24/7 is technically okay, it’s often unnecessary. This stands in contrast to the frequently exaggerated marketing pitches from VPN companies insisting that you should maintain your VPN connection almost constantly.
For a clear approach on when to precisely toggle your VPN on/off, here’s a guide outlining how you can effectively use a VPN while traveling.
Toggle ON: The Case For Using a VPN During Travel
We may feel more inclined to use a VPN during travel compared to back home, even if it may be at times unnecessary, due to these scenarios.
Danger of unsecured public networks: While traveling, being in unfamiliar territory can heighten concerns about the reliability of public Wi-Fi networks. Using a VPN on unsecured public networks enhances your digital security by encrypting your data, giving you peace of mind.
Possibility of encountering geo-restricted content or services: When traveling abroad, you may find that certain content or services you plan to access are geo-restricted. This can include streaming services, news websites, or other online resources. Encountering these restrictions can impact your productivity or leisure activities. If such resources are essential to your daily life, you will be frustrated by the disruption.
Possibility of encountering country-specific censorship: Some countries impose censorship on popular social media platforms and news websites. While you might be familiar with the restrictions (or lack thereof) in your regular destinations, you may encounter unexpected limitations when traveling to new and unfamiliar places. A VPN can help you bypass these restrictions, ensuring that you have continued access to your essential online platforms.
Toggle OFF? Whether You Should Keep Your VPN On All The Time
Hopefully, you’re on board with the idea of using a VPN, or at the very least, to have a VPN set up and ready for potential use during your travels. You understand the scenarios when it comes in handy and why you might need to activate it.
Yet, are there any downsides to just leaving it on 24/7?
In reality, using a VPN all the time might slow down your internet and use up a bit of battery. However, if you pick a good VPN and take some steps to manage it, these drawbacks are typically marginal.
Before coming to a verdict, let’s briefly evaluate each ‘issue’ and determine how much it matters.
Potential Internet Issues
First, using a VPN may cause potential internet slowdowns. Here are two ways a VPN can cause poorer internet connection and speeds:
- VPN encrpytion and decryption processes: As VPNs constantly encrypt and decrypt data to secure your connection, there is always processing power involved. These processes may cause a slight internet slowdown. If you’re working on more resource-heavy tasks and apps, this slowdown may become more obvious.
- VPN server distance: If you connect to a VPN server that is far away, your internet connection and speed can be hindered – due to the increased travel time for data between the VPN server and your device itself.
Here are two quick solutions: If you encounter internet slowdowns when using a VPN, try selecting a different server location (ideally one closer to your country or city) or simply reconnecting to the VPN server.
If these steps don’t help, there are more steps you can take to troubleshoot the issue – some of which are technical and beyond the scope of this article. For example, you can switch VPN protocols, check your internet speed without the VPN, or restart your device. Additionally, you can close some tabs and end background tasks to improve performance.
While using a VPN, you should be able to find a solution to resolve any internet connection issues. Otherwise, try disabling your VPN when it isn’t necessary to determine whether your VPN is indeed impacting your connection.
Potential Battery Issues
Second, using a VPN may cause potential battery drain. Here are two things to consider:
- Are you using a VPN app that is resource-efficient?
- Do you need to critically conserve battery?
A VPN’s impact on battery is often minimal. The encrpytion and decryption processes of a VPN can consume some of your device’s battery.
Further, the efficiency of the VPN app itself matters. Some VPN apps are more optimized and have lower resource requirements than others. This is why you’d want to generally avoid free VPNs and instead stick to reputable ‘premium’ services.
If you’re using a free VPN service that’s clearly draining your battery, leaving your VPN on all the time is obviously a bad idea – especially when you’re traveling.
Assuming you’ve chosen a reliable VPN service, you can usually afford to keep your VPN on 24/7 when it comes to battery concerns.
According to research done by Surfshark, using a VPN service yields a less than 10% difference in battery consumption (compared to when a VPN isn’t used). On most devices being tested, the impact on battery life is negligible.
The exception is when you need to play it very safe and critically conserve battery; in such cases, it’s wise to disable or pause the VPN. While traveling, you might forget to fully charge your phone the night before and also forget to bring your power bank or charger. In these situations, you might need to be ultra-conservative about battery use. Even if a VPN app (or any other app/service) only slightly drains your battery, that small percentage could be crucial. It’s important to consider worst-case scenarios during travel, where a dead phone battery could lead to significant inconveniences.
Other times to Disconnect Your VPN
Here are some other times when you might want to turn your VPN off:
- Access to local content or services: Pause your VPN connection if you need to access local content or services that are restricted to non-local IP addresses. Examples are streaming services, government websites, and banking and financial websites.
- Software updates: At times, a VPN connection can disrupt software updates. You may need to temporarily disable your VPN to ensure the successful completion of the updates.
To come back to the question of turning your VPN on 24/7, I’d ultimately recommend that you disconnect your VPN when you don’t need it.
As a general rule, consider disconnecting your VPN when experiencing internet slowdowns and minimal battery impact. Quick solutions include selecting a closer server for a better internet connection. Disconnect for local content access, software updates, or critical battery-saving during travel.
This article was originally published on unboundist.com. If it is now published on any other site, it was done without permission from the copyright owner.
Why You CAN Afford To Turn Off Your VPN
Contrary to the belief (marketed by VPN companies) that it’s best to keep your VPN active at all times, you can actually afford to turn it off. Here’s why:
- HTTPS has become an established internet standard. When you spot the padlock symbol on your web browser, your internet traffic is already encrypted. The supplementary encryption offered by a VPN merely serves as a safety net.
- Sensitive information such as banking and financial details is typically accessed through websites that use HTTPS. If your bank’s website is encrypted with HTTPS, it already establishes a secure connection between your device and the bank’s server.
- If you’re using mobile data, rest assured that mobile data connections provided by cellular networks are typically encrypted by default.
- You can adopt smart measures to tactically boost digital security if you must travel without a VPN or disable it. An example is to limit WiFi usage to a small number of trusted cafes or hotels.
Thus, do not buy into the fear-mongering messages you hear about, claiming that you should utilize a VPN all the time.
Other cybersecurity measures are arguably more important than a VPN, like being cautious with emails and links and using strong, unique passwords.
How to Use a VPN (While You Travel) – Solutions
Let’s talk about practical solutions. Here are three different ways you can use a VPN on the go.
1. Manually connect to a VPN only when you need it.
This is the approach I’d recommend.
Rather than leaving the VPN active continuously, manually connect to it only when necessary. This approach encourages mindfulness of digital security – you’d only connect to a VPN when you actually need it. It subconsciously trains you to not rely on any one technology (like a VPN) to be a cure-all. This is important if you see yourself as a traveler or mobile professional.
If you enable a VPN only for specific purposes (such as overcoming geo-restrictions and censorship) and leave your VPN turned off most of the time, you mitigate the downsides of a constantly active VPN. As aforementioned, keeping a VPN constantly active include potentially adverse impacts on battery life and internet speed.
But if you prefer to enable your VPN by default (for convenience or security concerns), you can adopt either of the approaches that follow.
2. Pause your VPN connection instead of disconnecting it.
Instead of disconnecting entirely, consider pausing your VPN connection when not in use. Many VPNs provide the option to manually pause the connection, and they often include a setting to enable auto-reconnection at a later time.
Choose this option for more flexibility. The auto-reconnection reduces the chances of forgetting to turn your VPN back on during your travels – given that you prefer to keep your VPN enabled by default.
3. Use split tunneling.
Some VPN services offer split tunneling, a feature that allows you to select specific apps or services to use the VPN while excluding others.
A simple reason is this: Since not all internet traffic needs to go through the VPN, you may experience faster internet speeds for non-sensitive activities that will be allowed to bypass the VPN encryption and routing processes.
This not only enhances internet speed but also contributes to improved battery life during travel.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this guide has given you a clear approach on whether to turn your VPN on or off while you’re traveling. Understanding when to toggle your VPN on and off ensures you remain connected, secure, and efficient during your trip.