What is a VPN
A VPN (virtual private network) connects your device to a server over an encrypted tunnel. While the VPN is on, your traffic goes to that server first and leaves for the internet from there.
How it works
- The VPN app on your device connects to a VPN server and agrees on encryption keys with it.
- Apps on the device keep working as usual, but their traffic is packed into the tunnel.
- The server unpacks the traffic and sends it on to the sites and services you use. Their answers come back the same way.
Sites and services see the address of the VPN server, not the address your internet provider gave you. The network you are on — home Wi-Fi, a café, a mobile operator — sees that you are connected to a VPN server, but not what goes through the tunnel.
What a VPN changes
- The network in between cannot read your traffic. This matters on public Wi-Fi in cafés, hotels and airports, where you do not know who runs the network.
- Sites see the server’s address and country. If you choose a server in another country, sites see a visitor from that country.
- Your provider sees one connection — to the VPN server — instead of the list of sites you visit.
What a VPN does not change
- It does not make you anonymous. If you sign in to an account, the service knows it is you, whatever the address.
- The VPN service handles your traffic the way your internet provider would without it. What it keeps is set out in its privacy policy — read it. For Desert Connect, that is the Privacy Policy.
- It does not protect you from phishing or malware. A fake site is just as fake through a VPN.
- Some services decide your country by other signals — the country of your account, your SIM card, location services — not only by the address.
Speed
Traffic takes a detour through the server, so the distance to the server matters: a nearer location usually responds faster. Encryption itself costs little on today’s phones and computers.
How to start
Install a VPN app, sign in, choose a location and connect. For Desert Connect the details for each device are on the iPhone, Android and Mac pages, and the iPhone steps are in How to set up a VPN on iPhone.