Using a VPN on Android

[AC Question]

I looking for a VPN service with a kill switch for my android tablet. The problem with most VPN services is they connect to the internet first, then you connect to the VPN. Since tablets are essentially always on and start transmitting via the Internet once you establish a connect, such as your mail and such, this is what I'm trying to avoid when connecting to a public hotspot.

Does anyone have any ideas or solutions so I don't have to transmit any data over the public hotspot before connecting to a VPN? Or a different tactic to get on the VPN before any of my data is broadcasted on the public wifi?

Any tried and true solutions would be an extra bonus.

Please be friendly in your response, this may be obvious to some, but I don't know the solution. Thanks!

 

[PhiPsi32]

CyberGhost

 

[elyeti]

I don't think that answers or resolves my dilemma above? If it does, please do explain. By the way, I don't care if I use a paid VPN or not. Thanks

 

[Rukbat]

1. The signal between your tablet and the hotspot isn't protected by using a VPN. Anyone can run a man-in-the-middle attack right at the hotspot.

2. You can't connect to the VPN until you're connected to the internet, and you can't connect to the internet until you're connected to the hotspot.

The idea of the VPN (which is totally outmoded now) is to keep the site you're connecting to from knowing your actual IP address. Since most sites now ask for the original IP address, not the one the connection is coming from, they get your address whether you're using a VPN or not. About the only thing VPNs are good for now is if you're behind a firewall (like the Great Firewall of China) that doesn't let you get to the site you want, but does let you get to a VPN, you can use the VPN to get to the site you want (at the expense of a lot of speed).

In normal usage, from countries that don't block sites, VPNs are just a way to slow your connection down. (That's public VPNs. Corporate VPNs are totally different things, even though they have the same name. They provide a virtual private network [hence the initials VPN] between your computer and the corporate VPN server.)

 

[elyeti]

I realize everything you mentioned, a digression from my questions, but I do appreciate the response.

I want to use a VPN so a user on the same public WiFi hotspot as me can't sniff or capture my packets, that's what I'm concerned with and why a lot of people use VPNs, aside from connecting privately to their corporate network.

Maybe a better question is, how can I stop all the applications on my tablet to start communicating on the Internet before I'm able to get connected to a VPN. Secondly, a very popular feature of VPN Clients on PCs are an Internet Kill switch, so if your VPN goes down, nothing in transmitted over your Internet connection.

Thanks.

 

[PhiPsi32]

^^^^ I don't know of a simple solution for this. You can use the kill switch feature. It will lock your internet connection. Other apps and programs can't access the internet until the VPN is established. Just make sure your VPN client is running before you connect to the hotspot.

 

[peterkendrick]

The title itself is misleading as I understand. Just go to settings>accounts and look for sync settings option to disable any background syncing of applications. Some apps sync regardless the menu settings, for that go to that app option and look for sync settings to disable. Once you connect your VPN then enable the sync option again. Hope it solve the people concerns