VPN: What It's For, What It Really Protects, What It Doesn't, and Why It Can Slow Your Internet Down

VPNs are heavily advertised as an essential security tool: "protect your data", "become invisible online". As a result, many people install the first free app they find and leave it on permanently. Then they wonder why the internet is slow, the banking app won't open and websites keep asking them to solve captchas. Let's look at what a VPN is, when it's genuinely useful, what it doesn't do and how to use one without problems.

How a VPN works

A VPN creates an encrypted tunnel between your device and a VPN server. All your traffic goes through that server, and websites see its address rather than yours. Your provider and the owner of the Wi-Fi network you're on see only that you're exchanging encrypted data with the VPN server — not the content or the sites you visit.

When a VPN is genuinely useful

• Public Wi-Fi. In cafés, airports and hotels the network may be open or controlled by who knows whom. A VPN protects your traffic from interception on such networks.
• Office network access. A company VPN lets an employee at home work with files, 1C and internal systems as if they were in the office. This is the main and most important use of VPNs for business.
• Home network access. Your own VPN on the router lets you safely view home cameras, open files on a NAS and control your smart home without opening ports to the internet.
• Protection from tracking by your provider or a network you don't trust.
• Using foreign services that are only available from certain countries — within those services' rules.

What a VPN doesn't do

• It doesn't protect against viruses. An infected file downloaded through a VPN is still infected.
• It doesn't protect against phishing. If you enter your password on a fake site, a VPN won't help.
• It doesn't make you anonymous. Websites recognise you through accounts, cookies and your browser fingerprint. And the VPN service sees your traffic instead of your provider — you're simply transferring your trust to it.
• It doesn't speed up the internet — in most cases, quite the opposite.

The risks of free VPNs

Running VPN servers costs money. If a service is free, it earns in other ways: showing ads, selling data about its users, and some apps contain malicious code. There have been cases of free VPN apps collecting browsing history and even using users' devices as nodes in their network. For regular use it's better to choose a paid service from a well-known company with a clear privacy policy, and for office or home access, your own VPN.

Why the internet slows down with a VPN

• Traffic goes via an extra server, often in another country — ping rises and speed falls.
• The VPN server is overloaded, especially with free services.
• Encryption strains weak devices and routers.
• A poor choice of protocol or server.

So leaving a VPN on all the time without need is a bad idea, especially for gaming, video calls and streaming.

Common VPN problems

• Banking apps and government services don't work — services block connections from foreign or VPN addresses.
• Websites ask for captchas or block access — VPN server addresses often end up on lists of suspicious ones.
• Devices on the home network aren't visible — the printer, NAS or TV — while the VPN is on.
• The internet disappears completely after removing a VPN — its network settings or drivers are left behind.
• The company VPN won't connect from home — router settings, an address conflict between the home and office networks, an outdated client.

VPN on the router

Many routers can act as a VPN server — for accessing your home network from outside — or as a VPN client, sending all devices' traffic, or only selected devices', through the tunnel. It's convenient, but it needs setting up correctly and a powerful enough router. For a small office, a VPN on the router is a simple way to give staff secure remote access.

What our technician does

1. Finds out what you need a VPN for and chooses a suitable solution.
2. Sets up a company VPN for staff working remotely.
3. Sets up a VPN server on the router for secure access to home cameras and a NAS.
4. Removes dubious free VPN apps and their leftovers, and checks the system for viruses.
5. Fixes speed problems, banking app issues and local network access while on VPN.

A real example

An accounting firm on Chavchavadze Avenue needed two employees to work from home with the 1C database and shared folders. They were using a free VPN from the internet and a remote desktop exposed to the outside — both slow and dangerous. Our technician set up a VPN server on the office router, closed the externally exposed remote desktop port and installed VPN clients for the employees with individual accounts. Now staff connect to the office from home securely, and when someone leaves, disabling a single account is enough.

If you need a VPN regularly, it's convenient to set up split tunnelling: only the traffic of the apps or addresses you choose — the office systems, for example — goes through the VPN, while the rest of the internet, banking and video connect directly. That keeps your speed up, stops banking apps breaking and leaves your home printer and TV reachable.

Call a technician

If you need a VPN set up for remote work or home access, or want to fix the problems one is causing, we'll come to any district of Tbilisi around the clock. Learn more on our router setup, local network setup and virus removal pages.