What are the Pro's & Con's of Connecting a VPN with Router?

Many of you have already heard of what a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is. VPNs have become quite popular with the increasing risk of security breaches in the 21^st century. Hackers are constantly finding new ways of infiltrating systems and hence VPNs are one of the many ways in which a user can protect his/her privacy very conveniently. For those who may not know how a VPN actually works, the service essentially establishes an encrypted connection with a server of your choice. This means that with a VPN, you can connect to any server in order to hide your IP. Once connected, all your internet traffic is re-routed through that server rather than your actual one. You are therefore protected from being tracked down as your actual IP is hidden from agencies, advertisers, and potential hackers. However, the number of devices that we have today, have increased dramatically. Indeed, almost every household owns a smart phone, or a tablet, or a PC, or a combination of these. Given that all of these devices are being used to connect to the internet, it becomes quite obvious that such connections need to be secured as well. Smart devices are not immune from being hacked and given their increasing ownership, various institutions and businesses track down your activities for marketing purposes. As such, having a VPN connected to your router may be the only option to provide you with security across all your devices. However, as with everything else, there are both advantages and disadvantages associated with connecting your VPN to your router directly. Let us see what they actually involve.

Advantages of connecting your VPN to your Router

More Devices can be connected at a time

As mentioned earlier, connecting each and every device to a VPN separately can be quite inconvenient. It can be very time-consuming to connect all your devices to a VPN whenever you use them. Therefore, an easier way would be to connect your VPN with your primary router itself. This will allow you to use all of your devices at any time with a VPN connection established. You may then use the internet without any worry as your privacy will be protected across all of your devices.

One-time connection

If you are a regular VPN user, you will know the hassle of connecting to a VPN every time you want to use the internet. Furthermore, the connection established as such is sometimes weak and breaks quite frequently. This can prove to be dangerous. To begin with, you may not remember connecting to a VPN in the first place. Secondly, having a connection that breaks midway can be harmful, especially if you are in the middle of making or receiving payments. Given such problems, it is advisable to have your VPN connected directly to your router so that your safety is ensured whenever you surf the web. Not only will you be able to save a significant amount of time, but you will also be able to keep your sensitive information safe and secure throughout.

Works with every platform

Although VPNs are compatible with almost all platforms, it is however, not known as to how reliable they are when used on different operating systems. This may potentially limit the number of devices that you can use if you are using separate VPNs for different devices. Perhaps so, a VPN connected to your router is a much easier way to use VPN across all platforms. Since you will always be connected to VPN through your router, you will not have to log in every time you use a different device to use the web. Read: How to setup a secure wireless router

Disadvantages of connecting your VPN to your router

It is Costly

It is without any doubt that having a router connected to a VPN 24/7 provides exceptional security. However, the only problem that may occur is that the router itself may not act as a VPN client. This means that for a router to connect to a VPN, it needs to behave as a client, otherwise, you will not be able to establish a connection between your router and the VPN. Therefore, you may need to purchase a new router that is compatible as such. On the other hand, you may configure your existing router accordingly. This may however, require technical expertise. Read How to configure VPN on your existing router

Less flexible

With a VPN software installed on your PC, you have the liberty to switch it on or off at will. However, with a VPN server connected to your router, you may not be allowed to do so. This implies that since you cannot switch the connection off when connected to a router, you will not be able to access content that is only provided in your home country. Let’s say that the VPN connects you with a server in Canada while you are actually in the UK. Since you cannot switch off your VPN connection, you may not be able to access content that is only available in the UK. This is because you will appear as someone from Canada and hence you will not be allowed to access country-specific content.

The more the devices, the lesser the speed

Having a number of devices connected to the same VPN server can reduce the speed of your internet significantly. As such, it is always recommended to try out a couple of different VPN servers to check as to which one works best when connected to a number of devices at the same time. Read: How to set up VPN on your Smart TV (Google TV, LG TV, Sony TV) Conclusion To sum up, a router connected to a VPN server can be very beneficial in terms of ensuring your privacy 24/7 and saving you a lot of time. However, there are some disadvantages as well. In the end, it all comes down to the quality of the VPN server. A higher quality is likely to compensate for the disadvantages mentioned above. Always ensure that your VPN server provider offers superior quality. LimeVPN introduces 10 MBPS High Speed VPN Servers .Use Code “SPEED” Get a Free Trial on the fastest VPN