New Router or VPN???

TraceyW · 24 Jun 2019

Hi

I have today been looking at subscribing to a VPN provider. However, my husband suggested I look at How-To-Geek to see what they say. Having done that, they are suggesting that not everyone needs a VPN - just a new router. But routers as they as used be seem to be going out of fashion and ours is getting on in computing terms (possibly 7-8 years old) and has no firmware update to correct some of the things I am looking for.

Currently I use Avast Internet Security and it reports that I am not keeping things private that should be private. There are two of us here and we spend a lot of time on the internet and currently we are allowing the following to be read/discovered:

* Anyone can see what we are doing online
* Our ISP may well be recording everything we are doing online
* Our location is exposed
* Our IP address is visible

My question is: would a new router hide these things or should I just go for a VPN? If I were to go for a router what would people suggest? If a VPN, I'd be tempted to go for NordVPN or one of the other top rated VPNs out there.

Hoping someone can help out.
Tracey

dalchina · 24 Jun 2019

it reports that I am not keeping things private that should be private.

Prompts like that are essentially a sales push.
Avast offers
Free VPN Download | Lightning-Fast & Secure | Avast SecureLine VPN

The Opera browser includes a VPN for free.

What does a VPN do? Yes, it means your ISP can't 'see' which IP addresses you are accessing for example.
A new router has nothing to do with this.

If you use https sites, your communication to that site is encrypted- so your ISP might know you've connected to a bank, but not what transactions you undertake.

Question is, what are you worrying about?

If, when using a VPN, you log in to a site, that site will still record any actions as yours.

There are also free VPNs that allow a limited amount of traffic per month. Some also offer giveaways- with particular traffic allowances, perhaps the same as their premium product, for a year.

Do you really need a VPN?
Do I Need a VPN at Home? - PCMag UK
What Is a VPN, and Why Would I Need One?
Is there Any Reason to Use a VPN at Home? - Ask Leo!

The answer may be different if you connect to a corporate network, for example.

Samuria · 24 Jun 2019

There are changes on the way as DNS request will soon be encrypted so the ISP won't know what your doing this will also stop any filtering of sites. You can still be tracked by cookies and other means

bro67 · 24 Jun 2019

No a VPN does not hide what you are doing on the tunnel end. Some VPN providers do hand over logs to certain countries.

The issue with VPN’s come when someone is trying to access shares on their network and the VPN is not properly set up. If you wish to use a VPN with your connection, remember that your speeds can be degraded.

Compumind · 24 Jun 2019

Samuria said:

There are changes on the way as DNS request will soon be encrypted so the ISP won't know what your doing this will also stop any filtering of sites. You can still be tracked by cookies and other means

Where did you get that info from? Cloudflare?

Thanks.

Samuria · 24 Jun 2019

DNS changes are in all IT press and UK has stopped their new blocking as it wont work

vgchat · 24 Jun 2019

TraceyW said:

1 Anyone can see what we are doing online
2 Our ISP may well be recording everything we are doing online
3 Our location is exposed
4 Our IP address is visible

Well lets see....

1 If you use the same username on every site you visit, someone can look you up by username or email and see what you're doing, vpn won't help with that.

2 They don't record what you do online aside from tracking bandwith & hiring antipiracy companies to track if you're grabbing illegal downloads/torrents and if you have a vpn which uses the same ip, they can track that too.

3 Only if you use the same username/emails as mentioned above along with putting in information like where you live and if you do, then a vpn wont help.

4 Your ip address is invisible unless you've been a victim of a hacked database (which would leak your username, password, ip addresses, location, name and more) or if you've been caught torrenting, you shouldn't worry about this.

So based on the info above, you can determine if you think you need a vpn or not.

CannonRebel · 24 Jun 2019

A VPN is also an added layer of security, besides being an aid to personal privacy between your computer and the internet, mine works on my phone for WIFI protection too.

JAM83 · 24 Jun 2019

bro67 said:

No a VPN does not hide what you are doing on the tunnel end. Some VPN providers do hand over logs to certain countries.

The issue with VPN’s come when someone is trying to access shares on their network and the VPN is not properly set up. If you wish to use a VPN with your connection, remember that your speeds can be degraded.

I use Windscribe. They do NOT keep logs at all.

JAM83 · 24 Jun 2019

vgchat said:

Well lets see....

1 If you use the same username on every site you visit, someone can look you up by username or email and see what you're doing, vpn won't help with that.

2 They don't record what you do online aside from tracking bandwith & hiring antipiracy companies to track if you're grabbing illegal downloads/torrents and if you have a vpn which uses the same ip, they can track that too.

3 Only if you use the same username/emails as mentioned above along with putting in information like where you live and if you do, then a vpn wont help.

4 Your ip address is invisible unless you've been a victim of a hacked database (which would leak your username, password, ip addresses, location, name and more) or if you've been caught torrenting, you shouldn't worry about this.

So based on the info above, you can determine if you think you need a vpn or not.

Windscribe DOES hide your torrenting. I've tested this first hand. I downloaded a brand new movie released this year by not using a VPN, then downloaded another new movie put out by that same uploader by using Windscribe VPN. . I received a DMCA notice for the first one, cuz I did not use a VPN. I did NOT receive a DMCA Notice from the 2nd download. . . NOW, I don't download illegal files. I just wanted to put it to the test.