VPNs can prove convenient.
Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs for short, are often convenient to many people in different ways.*
- ---> One example: Traveling abroad and outside of the United States of America and unable to view Netflix or Hulu? VPNs offer a simple solution in this scenario. Just connect remotely to a VPN server in the USA that you have access to and then voila: you may now access geographically-restricted content.
- ---> Another practical example: When torrenting, often many, although not all ISPs, or Internet Service Providers, will identify the network activity as such and either throttle or drop your connection. When connected to a VPN, this activity is virtually unrecognizable as all of your outbound and inbound internet connections streamline through a single, encrypted VPN connection, and thus, the threat of having your internet connection throttled or dropped is no longer an issue.
- ---> Adding to the previous points: Achieve the peace of mind that comes with the added layer of security that a VPN provides. Your internet traffic is encrypted, and your IP, or Internet Protocol, address is masked, helping foil potential would-be cyber attacks against your internet-connected device and aid in keeping your traffic private, as well.
*All that said, and viable points though they are, it is also important to mention that some websites and servers will block any connection attempts from anyone who is behind a VPN connection. It's fair to say that in this particular context a VPN isn't so convenient. Although, if you ever run into this, it's easy to disconnect from your VPN server of choice and then access the site you're after. When finished, you can reconnect to your VPN server and resume as usual.