this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2026
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[–] HoneyMustardGas@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

IMO, VPNs are a waste of money unless you plan on pirating content or changing your location on your device to access say better Netflix's shows. Other than that, there are already security features built in to your phone and you don't need a VPN. It's unnecessary. Just don't do any sketchy stuff on it.

[–] Marthirial@lemmy.world 23 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Blanket statements like this are not helpful. VPNs have a utility, for example, if you don't want your ISP to know what bank you use because this little nugget of data is valuable to advertisers.

VPNs without a dedicated IP (like what you want to bypass Netflix geo fencing) only works for obfuscating, not protecting.

[–] HoneyMustardGas@lemmy.world -3 points 2 days ago

I guess you have a point. I just never used them. Never had a problem without them, and officiated their use in my understanding and decided they aren't necessary. They are necessary for the reasons I described. The question is how much risk am I taking without a VPN, as I never got hacked. I also never use antivirus. Scan my PC with an AI Agent to search for malware weekly and never had a problem in the past several years atleast. I never had a virus, never had my info stolen or identity. But that is not necessarily a reason not to protect yourself, I get it. I just don't want the extra bill, even if they are pretty cheap these days.