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Can VPN affect WiFi? Secure your WiFi with these solutions

5 min. read

Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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Key notes

WiFi(short forWirelessFidelity) is, perhaps, one of the most awesome perks of living in this era. Back in the day, cable was king, every connection was not only visible and immediately obvious, but also somewhat obnoxious.

Although wired connections are still alive and kicking, WiFi has already slithered its way into our daily lives so that we can’t seem to be able to live without it any longer.

Everywhere you go you hear the same questions over and over again:

You get the point. We’ve reached a time wherewirelessInternet is deemed as important as water. If not more.

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How does WiFi work?

Wireless, WiFi, orWLAN(WirelessLocal Area Network), whatever you want to call it, sends radio frequency signals between devices. That’s what makes your friends’ photo load in real-time on your phone.

Each connection has a transmitter and a receiver, which need to be set to the same frequency in order to communicate effectively. WiFi uses 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies, which are slightly different, in the sense that each has its ups and downs.

But that’s not why we’re here for.

Is WiFi secure?

To put it shortly, not at all. Like many other connection types, WiFi has its own set of security policies. Most of all revolve on encryption and password-protection for the access points.

However, as opposed to wired networks, where you’d need physical access to the router/switch/modem or aVPNserverto become a part of the network,wirelesslets you get in on two conditions:

Getting in range is quite easy, you just have to position yourself in range of the network. And roughly half the battle is won. Talented hackers have proved to us that cracking or social-engineering the password can be done in a matter of minutes.

So we can’t stress this enough: WiFi is not secure and requires your constant attention if you want to prevent surprise attacks.

How to secure WiFi?

If you’re the owner of the network, you could take these following steps to boost your connection’ssecurity:

If you’re a client on the network, it would be wise to take these cautionary steps:

How can VPN protect me on WiFi?

We’ve mentioned that using aVPNis one of the best ways to secure your device while using a wireless connection.

Your device has an assigned IP address, which, if identified, can be used to draw a straight line between your attacker and you. Provided that you’re on the same WiFi network, that is.

What aVPNdoes is it spoofs yourIP addressand replaces it with the address of the server you’re connected to. You’re now sharing an IP address with many other users, so singling you out becomes virtually impossible.

Private Internet Access

Furthermore, consider this:wirelesstraffic is only encrypted for outsiders, so everyone who’s inside the network can use a packet sniffer and analyze your online whereabouts extremely easily.

Using aVPNencrypts your personal traffic so that even other devices on your network can’t access it.

Now it may all sound awesome, but using aVPNwhile onwirelesscan have some drawbacks. Spoiler alert: it’s actually one drawback.

Can VPN affect WiFi?

To put it shortly, yes, using aVPNcan and probably will affect your WiFi connection. Let us elaborate. When you use aVPN, it adds a bunch of extrasecuritylayers on top of your insecure connection.

This, in turn, might make your connection act a bit slower since there’s suddenly encryption and decryption happening on it. Not to mention that using aVPNwill increase the distance of your connection, depending on the location of theVPNserver you chose.

However, you can choose a server that’s closer to you, if your only purpose is staying safe on WiFi. But we think thatspeedis a small price to pay for the array of security features aVPNreinforces your connection with.

Sometimes, your PC might lack proper configuration, which can makeWiFi disconnect upon detecting aVPNconnection. But even that can be easily fixed.

But sometimes using aVPNcan have a beneficial effect while using WiFi. For instance, if your ISP throttles your bandwidth and you’re experiencing packet loss, using aVPNcan help youimprove packet loss onwireless.

VPN can affect WiFi, but it’s worth it

Considering that WiFi is generally less secure than its wired counterpart, using aVPNmight not be the craziest idea. Your personal traffic will be encrypted and your IP will be masked.

Sure, it might be a bit slower than staying connected without any extrasecuritylayers, but the differences shouldn’t be huge. Just make sure you stick by a trustworthyVPNand choose a fast server that’s close to your actual geographical position.

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Can VPN affect WiFi? Secure your WiFi with these solutions#

How does WiFi work?#

Is WiFi secure?#

How to secure WiFi?#

How can VPN protect me on WiFi?#

Private Internet Access#

Can VPN affect WiFi?#

VPN can affect WiFi, but it’s worth it#