Do I need a VPN at home?

[Phate]

Hi all,

So, when trying to search this online. I end up finding a bunch of clickbait based articles "top 10 vpns and why you need one" but ultimately they just use cover all sentances like "ultimate data privacy" - its all very non descript.

So, for 2 casual users at home who the "dodgiest" thing we do is torrenting (although looking at switching back to Newsgroups with SSL connections) otherwise its just regular web browsing, albeit a lot of it.

I understand the general purpose of a VPN and why businesses use them (my work laptop has one setup for working out of the office) however the current "thing" seems to be paying for a VPN connection to use at home for non business work.

So pushing aside the sales rubbish, do you have one? if so, why? What specific reasons do you have for having one? Would you recommend to all? Or just specific use cases?

TIA
Jake

 

[modo77]

If your torrenting, then yes I would use one (and do). It's also handy for other things like getting around region locks. Also if you travel a lot then using different counties can get you better flight/hotel prices.

 

[Emmy Watson]

According to me, you can go for HMA. This is one of the best and old VPN available on the internet. There are so many features available on this software but one feature which I like is you change IP according to Country, state, and city as well. But it's costly.

 

[Deleted member 77746]

Phate I'm shocked that you need to ask this question, you normally tech savvy?

 

[Phate]

Phate I'm shocked that you need to ask this question, you normally tech savvy?

Well, I am...generally

I guess it stems from all these tech YouTubers being sponsored by TunnelBear and the like and constant mentions about data privacy made me really question it for myself.

As far as I can tell, the only time I need it is when downloading torrents. Otherwise, it's not necessary. Not for me anyway.

It was a sanity check mostly

Might invest in a Raspberry Pi and setup a VPN on that so I'm covered for torrents and whatever others browse as a just incase. But it's not a priority. I do believe the sell about data privacy is mostly a scare mongering point to sell a product tbh.

 

[Dirk]

For me the two things i find most useful is to defeat geofencing and court ordered blocks on certain sites in the UK. Sites that it sounds like you are probably already familiar with. Im using the Hoxx Browser extension and find their £36 for two year deal good value. They have servers all over the world.

 

[Deleted member 77746]

Well, I am...generally

I guess it stems from all these tech YouTubers being sponsored by TunnelBear and the like and constant mentions about data privacy made me really question it for myself.

As far as I can tell, the only time I need it is when downloading torrents. Otherwise, it's not necessary. Not for me anyway.

It was a sanity check mostly

Might invest in a Raspberry Pi and setup a VPN on that so I'm covered for torrents and whatever others browse as a just incase. But it's not a priority. I do believe the sell about data privacy is mostly a scare mongering point to sell a product tbh.

Don’t worry about it even torrents don’t generally require one usually. Some clients have encrption built into them.

The videos are just a sale thing. They are just glorified sales adds that’s all. Doesn’t mean you need one.

Only people who’s using a vpn are paranoid people and people who need to connect to their business.

/runs for the hills

 

[Phate]

Don’t worry about it even torrents don’t generally require one usually. Some clients have encrption built into them.

The videos are just a sale thing. They are just glorified sales adds that’s all. Doesn’t mean you need one.

Only people who’s using a vpn are paranoid people and people who need to connect to their business.

/runs for the hills

I'm liking switching back to Usenet anyway with SSL connections. So that removes the torrent question.

Just need to decide which service to subscribe to

 

[Dirk]

Only people who’s using a vpn are paranoid people and people who need to connect to their business.

/runs for the hills

You're assuming that people only use a VPN for privacy reasons, but i just gave two examples that have nothing to do with privacy and everything to do with functionality.

 

[Phate]

You're assuming that people only use a VPN for privacy reasons, but i just gave two examples that have nothing to do with privacy and everything to do with functionality.

I must admit. BBC iPlayer would be occasionally handy for me