VPN functionality advice needed

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I am making my first foray into the world of VPNs in expectation of using one to do banking/bill paying from motel rooms during an upcoming 5 week trip.  I have just started testing the free version of one and was surprised to see that the website I had logged in to continued to function after the VPN disconnected.  I don’t see this as a problem provided the VPN was connected when I logged in.  To my thinking, the purpose of the VPN is to protect credentials.  Am I wrong about that?

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VPN have two main purposes:

1 – Encrypt traffic so it can’t be sniffed by other devices on the network. Best for public Wi-Fi or any untrusted network. This is most likely what you want.

2 – Mask your location, originally designed to allow (for example) office workers to connect to the office VPN and have access to everything in the office. But it has since been expanded for other uses such as accessing geoblocked content from another country, or for nefarious uses like making it harder to track illegal activity.

The website probably continued to work because of the session token in the browser. Some of the commercial VPNs have a “kill switch” option that will drop the internet connection if the VPN fails, rather than risking leaking something.

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The response by steeviebops reassures me that encryption of the login credentials is the important part.  It has since dawned on me that I thought https already did that.  Do I even need a VPN provided all websites I log into are https?

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Peobody wrote:

Do I even need a VPN provided all websites I log into are https?

No.

As explained by @stveeiebops you need a VPN when connected to public wi-fi, work servers, mask your location for services unavailable in your country..

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I think I should have been more clear.  My question should of been:

Do I even need a VPN provided all websites I log into are https when logging in while connected to motel wi-fi?

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Peobody wrote:

I think I should have been more clear.  My question should of been:

Do I even need a VPN provided all websites I log into are https when logging in while connected to motel wi-fi?

Yes.

Motel wi-fi is public wi-fi.

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Peobody wrote:

while connected to motel wi-fi?

No, as long as you use https only. Data can be “sniffed” but only where you are going, not what you are doing.

That said, there is no downside to using a VPN as long as you are not using a free one – you are the product in the free ones.
Many home routers have VPN functionality and you can set them up to allow you to connect from anywhere.

As you are doing banking I would opt for the “potentially safer” VPN option as this guarantees no “sniffing”, or use a banking app on your phone as these are built to be secure regardless of connection type.

Peobody wrote:

website I had logged in to continued to function after the VPN disconnected

A VPN is a layer between your network and your applications (browser etc). The app doesn’t know, or care, how the connection is made.

cheers, Paul

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Myst

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Thanks Paul.  I’m testing with a free version solely to get an understanding of them.  Your hint about using my router is appreciated.  Based on brief research, that should be possible, but only from a different LAN IP scheme which I understand means that I can’t test it while at home.  More contemplation to be done on the matter.

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Paul T wrote:

That said, there is no downside to using a VPN as long as you are not using a free one – you are the product in the free ones.

I would say the exception to that is Cloudflare’s free WARP VPN.

It does not mask location.

However, that’s not an issue for us.

 

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How do they fund it then?

cheers, Paul

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Peobody wrote:

but only from a different LAN IP scheme which I understand means that I can’t test it while at home

Yes and no. Depends on what your router allows, but you can always use your phone as a wifi hot spot instead of going through the router.

cheers, Paul

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Peobody

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Paul T wrote:

you can always use your phone as a wifi hot spot instead of going through the router.

Hmm… Doing this from motel rooms could eliminate the need for a VPN.  I assume the phone would need to be connected to the cellular provider and not the motel wi-fi.  I have never used my phone as a hot spot.  I guess it is time to give it a try.  One thing I know for sure, I do not want to try to be doing anything of substance on a phone app.  I intentionally have a small phone, and these old fingers just can’t seem to touch the screen accurately.  Texting is downright tedious for me.

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Peobody wrote:

I intentionally have a small phone, and these old fingers just can’t seem to touch the screen accurately.

I have the same “fat fingers” problem which is why I use a stylus with my cellphone.

I bought a Stylus 10 Pack from Walmart for $6 a few years ago and they’ve work great on my small Moto cellphone.

The pen-style clip makes it easy to attach it to a pocket/phone case so it doesn’t get misplaced and, so far, I’ve only used up 2 of them (the rubber tips wear down and tear after a while.)

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Peobody

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Make sure you have a reasonable data allowance on your phone before commiting to it. And that it works where you are going – an issue in the US I believe.

cheers, Paul

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Paul T wrote:

And that it works where you are going – an issue in the US I believe.

I thought about that after my last post, recalling traveling cross-country a few years ago trying to use a map app on the phone and discovering that it failed more often than it worked due to inadequate cellular coverage in rural areas.  That experience prompted me to purchase a GPS.

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Peobody wrote:

That experience prompted me to purchase a GPS

Or, use maps offline on your phone.

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Alex5723 wrote:

Or, use maps offline on your phone.

Right, but first you must know that the map app will be useless in many areas when relying on cellular (I know that now), and then you must have offline maps on the phone.

I now have a comfortable understanding of where to go from here so have flagged this post as resolved.

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