"The new law also places the region, once a stronghold of online freedom, behind the same tight internet restrictions that govern mainland China," IPVanish said. "With this legislative change, we, unfortunately, have to consider Hong Kong and China as one." U.S.-based IPVanish said in a blog post that it had decommissioned its Hong Kong VPN servers and suspended operations there in order to protect "the freedoms of users in Hong Kong." IPVanish, which shut down servers, alleged the new law puts Hong Kong under the "same tight internet restrictions that govern mainland China."

Did you know that Netflix looks different in different countries? With a VPN, we could access other countries’ Netflixes, which opened us up to many more movies and TV shows (as if there weren’t enough to choose from in the first place). Essentially, VPNs are a type of software that creates an encrypted tunnel between your computer and a network, typically public. In doing so, all of the user’s web traffic along with their IP address will be hidden from their Internet Service Provider .

Researchers have found 36 vulnerabilities on 4G LTE networks that would make devices vulnerable to hacking, so even on data, be sure to connect to your VPN. So you’re in a hotel’s workspace using their wired desktop computer.

Our digital security experts break down exactly what a VPN is and why you might need it if you’re using public Wi-Fi networks. Sign Up NowGet this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. ProtonVPN said it is "outraged" by the new security law but it will keep its servers in the city "not only because we believe we can keep them secure, but also because we believe in fighting for Hong Kong." On Monday, Toronto, Canada-based TunnelBear said it would disable its Hong Kong servers. The VPN provider said the national security law has "led to widespread worry that this new law will hurt freedom of expression in Hong Kong."

By hiding your web activity, your ISP won’t be able to see what websites you go on, which means that they can’t enforce throttling. Just another way that VPNs lead to more accessibility, as all websites will run as fast as they’re able. When Wi-Fi what is a vpn networks aren’t available, we revert to using data, typically through 4G LTE networks.

In our opinion, yes, it is necessary if you want to hide your activity and IP address from the hotel’s server; this is especially important if you’re dealing with sensitive customer or business information. Rather than connecting to VPN software, you can also use a bridge, a physical ethernet adapter, which contains a different IP address that connects your computer to an entire local network. Of course, this uses a lot of bandwidth, so it’s not an ideal option compared to a VPN.