Why Use a VPN in 2026?

Since Congress repealed FCC broadband privacy rules in 2017, US ISPs have been legally permitted to collect and sell your browsing history, app usage, and location data to advertisers — without your explicit consent. Companies like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon have all been documented monetizing customer data.

A VPN encrypts your traffic so your ISP can only see that you're connected to a VPN server. They can't see which websites you visit, what you search for, or what you download. This is the single biggest reason Americans are adopting VPNs.

For US users concerned about ISP surveillance, choosing a VPN with a published privacy policy ensures that the VPN provider itself isn't creating the same tracking problem. Private Internet Access has a published privacy court record reported in federal proceedings, while NordVPN and Surfshark have been publicly documented by provider materials respectively.

Public Wi-Fi networks at airports, hotels, coffee shops, and libraries are high-risk environments for data interception. Without encryption, anyone on the same network can potentially intercept your traffic using readily available tools.

Man-in-the-middle attacks, evil twin hotspots, and packet sniffing can expose passwords, credit card numbers, and personal messages. A VPN encrypts everything before it leaves your device, making public Wi-Fi significantly safer.

If you connect to Wi-Fi at any major airport or hotel, a VPN should be your first app. For a detailed breakdown of public Wi-Fi risks and how to protect yourself, read our public Wi-Fi VPN guide.

When you travel internationally, many of your home subscriptions and services become inaccessible. Your favorite sports packages, music playlists, and video libraries may show different content or be unavailable entirely based on your location.

A VPN lets you connect to a server in your home region, maintaining access to the services you already pay for. Traveling from California to London? Connect to a US server and continue using your accounts as if you're still at home.

This is particularly valuable for business travelers who need consistent access to their home accounts and services. The best VPNs for travel are specifically optimized for maintaining reliable connections across international networks.

Airlines, hotels, rental car companies, and online retailers often show different prices based on your location, browsing history, and device type. This practice, called dynamic pricing or price discrimination, can cost you significantly more.

By switching your VPN to different server locations and using private browsing, you can compare prices from different virtual locations. Users have reported savings of varies on flights and hotel bookings by shopping from different VPN locations.

While this doesn't work with every retailer (many now use account-based pricing), it remains an effective strategy for travel bookings where location-based pricing is prevalent.

Remote work is now permanent for millions of Americans. When you access company resources from home, a coffee shop, or while traveling, a VPN ensures that sensitive business data is encrypted in transit.

Many employers require VPN use as part of their security policies, but even if yours doesn't, using a personal VPN protects both you and your company from data interception. This is especially critical when working from co-working spaces, airports, or hotels where network security is unknown.

For remote workers, look for VPNs with split tunneling so you can route work traffic through the VPN while keeping personal traffic on your regular connection.

ISPs commonly throttle (slow down) specific types of traffic, especially high-bandwidth activities during peak hours. Because a VPN encrypts your traffic, your ISP can't identify what type of content you're accessing and therefore can't selectively throttle it.

Users frequently report improved speeds with a VPN because it prevents ISP throttling. If you notice your connection slowing down at certain times of day or during specific activities, try connecting to a VPN — if speeds improve, your ISP was likely throttling your traffic.

This is legal in the US following the FCC's net neutrality rollback, making VPN-based throttling protection increasingly important for US internet users.

Every website you visit, every search you make, and every link you click contributes to your digital footprint — a detailed profile that advertisers, data brokers, and potentially malicious actors can use to target you.

A VPN masks your IP address and encrypts your DNS queries, making it significantly harder for third parties to build a comprehensive profile of your online activity. While a VPN alone doesn't prevent all tracking (cookies, browser fingerprinting, and account-based tracking still work), it removes one of the most persistent identifiers: your IP address.

Combined with privacy-focused browser settings and a tracker blocker (some VPNs like NordVPN include one), a VPN significantly reduces your digital footprint.