- Note
- 08 items
- Subject
- How VPN works: the tunnel, step by step
- From
- SecureVPN Club
The short version
A VPN puts your request in a sealed wrapper before it leaves your device, sends it to a server, and the server passes it to the website for you. The wrapper hides the content from the network in between. How VPNs work comes down to those two hops, and the steps below follow one tap through them.
The journey of one request
You tap a link. Your device would normally send the request straight to your network's router.
With the tunnel on, the client app wraps the request first, so the router receives a sealed package addressed to our server.
The router passes the package on. It cannot read what is inside, only where it is going and how big it is.
Our server unwraps it and sends the request to the website as if it were an ordinary visitor.
The website replies to the server, the server wraps the reply and sends it back, and your client unwraps it on screen.
What each party learns
Your network learns that you use a tunnel and which server it leads to. The website learns the address of the server, not the one your network gave you. The server itself has to see the request to forward it, which is exactly why the provider's logging statement matters.
That last point is the part people skip. A tunnel moves trust from your local network to the provider; it does not remove the need for trust. Because this site belongs to a VPN seller, weigh the claim by what the provider writes down and what you can verify, not by slogans.
Firewalls and tunnels
A firewall on a school, office or hostel network usually blocks by address or by type of traffic. A tunnel looks like one steady connection to a single destination, so a rule that works by website name cannot see which site is open inside the tunnel. Rules based on the server's address or on the type of traffic can still stop the connection itself.
This does not mean you should work around rules you agreed to. Workplace and college networks often have policies about what may run on them, and those policies apply whether or not a tunnel hides the detail. Read the rules before you connect, and remember that you answer for following them.
Where the tunnel stops helping
- It does not scan files, so a virus you download still runs.
- It does not stop a phishing page from asking for your password.
- It does not change who you are once you log in to an account.
- It does not make a slow site fast, and an extra hop can add delay.
- It does not replace updates for your phone or laptop.
How the key from the bot fits in
Setup starts in the Telegram bot, which returns your own subscription link after roughly a minute. The site asks for nothing: no registration, e-mail address or password. Paste that link into Hiddify, Happ, V2Box or v2rayNG, and the app builds the tunnel from the settings it contains.
One link can sit on every device you own, as the subscription counts no devices. New users get 10 days free from the bot. Longer periods are priced on the home page and in the bot, where you pay in crypto only (USDT and others), with no card or UPI.
Rules, and who wrote this
Legal treatment of VPNs is different from one country to the next and does change, which makes it worth a quick look at your local position.
The first draft came from software; the facts about the service were then checked by our editors against its real settings, and they answer for them.
Questions
What happens if the tunnel drops while I browse?
Depending on the client, traffic may go out directly until it reconnects. Look in the client's settings for a kill-switch style option, and test it by switching the server off on purpose.
Is the server in Singapore different from the one in Zurich in what it can see?
The role is the same. What differs is where the server sits, which changes the apparent location of your visits and how far the packages travel.
After connecting, why does a website place me in the server's city?
It sees the server's address, and that address belongs to the server city. Your own address is not passed to the site.
Can two devices use one link at once?
Yes, the subscription has no device limit.
Do I need to keep the Telegram bot open while the tunnel is on?
No. The bot only issues the link. After you import it, the client does the work.
Is there a quick way to confirm the tunnel is active?
Check your public address before and after, and run a DNS test. Both take under a minute and need nothing but a browser.