Question Is a VPN service really necessary in my scenario?

[tomseurocat]

I currently run my home with Frontier fiber internet with 2 EERO Pro 6 wireless routers and rarely if ever do I connect to wifi outside my home, other than the connection on my phone cell service. I also have Surfshark VPN and have been told that with Frontier's ISP coupled with the EERO Pro 6 routers, it makes having a VPN unnecessary and could cause problems with my connections. I have noticed that when the power goes out, as does the internet service, when the internet comes back on, I have to Pause the Surfshark VPN so that my internet service will connect back up to my desktop. I also have such things as Discord that won't connect unless I pause Surfshark.

So I was wondering in this case, do I really need a VPN service if I have the EERO Pro 6 wireless routers, that Frontier is telling me is conflicting with the VPN service and the VPN service is really not needed?

 

[kanewolf]

I currently run my home with Frontier fiber internet with 2 EERO Pro 6 wireless routers and rarely if ever do I connect to wifi outside my home, other than the connection on my phone cell service. I also have Surfshark VPN and have been told that with Frontier's ISP coupled with the EERO Pro 6 routers, it makes having a VPN unnecessary and could cause problems with my connections. I have noticed that when the power goes out, as does the internet service, when the internet comes back on, I have to Pause the Surfshark VPN so that my internet service will connect back up to my desktop. I also have such things as Discord that won't connect unless I pause Surfshark.

So I was wondering in this case, do I really need a VPN service if I have the EERO Pro 6 wireless routers, that Frontier is telling me is conflicting with the VPN service and the VPN service is really not needed?

What benefit are you trying achieve with the VPN?
For most people there is no benefit, IMO. Most browser traffic is already encrypted.

 

[tomseurocat]

To be honest, my wife likes to surf on platforms from other countries that a VPN works kind of as a mask for. But at this point is the VPN really needed? I was looking for an extra layer of security, but have also been told that the Defender firewall is sufficient for the average home user. Don't know if that's true or not.

 

[bill001g]

Your vpn will not conflict with any ISP....maybe it would conflict with data collection sales revenue.

In general since all traffic is encrypted via HTTPS you can't see any of the actual data. You want to use encrypted DNS with 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8 rather than the ISP DNS. Then again now cloudflare and google just get the chance to collect the dns requests.

Even if the ISP were to try to track via IP address that does little good since many IP just map back to the massive cloud data centers.

All this encryption came about because edward snowden exposed that the ISP and the government were collecting large amounts of information. If this makes it hard for the government to collect some individual trying to hack you is not going to have much chance.

VPN now days is mostly used for faking geolocation. Many people still want to watch video only available in certain countries.
There are also specialized gaming vpn that can help a small subset of users get better latency.

Not sure how much torrent and illegal file sharing is still going on with vpn.

 

[PEnns]

To be honest, my wife likes to surf on platforms from other countries that a VPN works kind of as a mask for. But at this point is the VPN really needed? I was looking for an extra layer of security, but have also been told that the Defender firewall is sufficient for the average home user. Don't know if that's true or not.

Yes, you need a VPN for that. Select the country in question that your wife wishes to watch her shows in and to the outside world it shows you're connecting from that country.

It works, mostly, although occasionally some websites overseas seem to find out that the connection is really from elsewhere.