Use VPN when on Cell Data?
 

I recently began using a personal VPN (Cloak) for public wi-fi locations. I am in the US. Recently used my iPhone's personal hotspot feature so I could access the internet on my wi-fi only iPad. I noticed that the VPN came on automatically.

Do others utilize a personal VPN when connecting through your cellular device (in my case, AT&T)? What are the pros and cons of doing so?

Thanks.

One pro is that you can access "banned" sites when in places where there is internet censorship such as China. Another pro is that if your VPN IP address matches up, you can access content from sites which limit access to IP addresses to certain regions.

pros:

tethering cellular to another device for "free" hotspot, instead of paying for separate data for separate devices.

look up different vpn apps if that's what you are into.

Doesn't a VPN add some overhead to the data carried? If so, one con would be more of your data plan used than if you weren't using a VPN.

That certainly seems to be the case with me: heavy use of VPN due to being in China. 70% of my data is just for the VPN...so I have to keep switching it on and off, a bit of a pain.

tb

i use it but there are some troube with my vpn client i dont know how.

Extra data consumption caused purely by the fact that you're connected to a VPN is not substantial. What you're actually trying to do over that connection will be far more relevant to your level of data consumption, but that consumption would be the same whether you're connected to VPN or not.

This is what I'd have thought too.

the problem is some provider block traffic and or use a proxy server do down convert the images.

Also possible that by using a VPN, your VPN software could compress the payload data being transmitted and received, more than making up for the additional protocol overhead, and therefore could actually reduce the amount of data that your cell phone carrier will charge against your account.

normaly it ilegal to manipulate the data beween the webserver and the client.

I only use a VPN (Tunnelbear) when I need to access a betting site back in the UK when I am in the US.

An interesting YouTube provides fairly definitive proof that Verizon is throttling NetFlix (and who knows what else), and that accessing them through a VPN improves performance SUBSTANTIALLY.

Arstechnica has a very good article about this. Makes me glad I don't have Verizon!

Well, I still find the approach to mobiles in the US monopolistic and, compared to what I am used to in the UK where I can get a SIM a lot easier than the US, mobile companies archaic. I am sure they know what they are doing.

Please make sure you trust your VPN provider as all data transmitted can be logged/snooped. Even on a VPN the usual precautions about browsing safely applies.

The government is already in the loop on your data, who else do you want to add in?

Really? I never thought for one minute they would be interested in anything I had to say. :)

Uhh... what do you think a proxy server is?

the proxy in train,... dont chance anything or compressed it!
Thats the difference to the what Vodafone do...

What?

Vodafone manipulate the image! :mad:

Zero tech knowledge here, but I can verify that my data usage jumped >100% on my day to day data consumption needs when I started using a VPN (fairly recently). As an example, before the GFW started intermittently blocking google maps, I could navigate around Beijing and use ~3MB data (max). Now that I have to do it with VPN, exactly the same task uses nearly 10MB of data...

It's possible this is just a China thing, since I don't tend to use VPN when in other countries.

tb

Oh my goodness, you're right! VPN=63mb, everything else=10mb.

But, I'm not planning on changing my ways because unfettered access to google = faster loading maps, and I like maps.

ETA: After posting it occurred to me that the reason the VPN number is so out of whack is because whenever I'm on VPN, my phone thinks that all data is used by the VPN itself (that's kind of the point, right?).

I don't think it's just that. My actual total data usage has shot up since using VPN...it may be because the VPN keeps connecting/disconnecting..but I don't know the actual reason.

tb

maybe your operator sample all pictures down and you have less usage?
normaly its not necessary i belive you never use all of your GB you have.