When to use (and when not to use) a VPN
Posted on 12 September 2025 by Beaming SupportNavigating the world of VPNs can be tricky. Here at Beaming, our helpdesk team regularly receives questions about common VPN issues people face. In this guide, we answer three key frequent questions
Full Tunnel vs. Split Tunnel VPN: What’s the Difference?
Understanding the difference between these two types of VPN is crucial because the choice directly impacts your security, internet speed, and day-to-day usability.
| Full Tunnel VPN | Split-Tunnel VPN | |
| Description | This is is a type of VPN that encrypts all of your traffic and exits out of the remote network you are connecting too (The VPN providers exit node that you have selected). | This is is a type of VPN that only sends selected traffic out of the VPN tunnel and the remainder of your traffic via your usual way. |
| What it offers | Complete encryption: Every data packet, whether it’s browsing, email, or app traffic, is protected.
Unified IP address: Your external IP appears as the VPN server’s, masking your location and activity.
Simpler configuration: One-size-fits-all setup, often default in consumer VPNs |
Selective encryption: You choose what is protected.
Faster performance: Non-sensitive traffic bypasses the VPN, reducing latency. Local access preserved: Useful for accessing nearby devices or services. More flexible: Ideal for hybrid work setups or accessing geo-specific content. |
| Trade-off |
|
|
Should I use a VPN whilst working in my office or on my work computer?
Unless it’s a business requirement (for a business VPN to access work resources), then ideally, no, as this can cause all manner of issues. For example, if you have a secure M365 platform which enforces country level blocking to ensure only authorised countries can access your resources, your VPN could be terminating your connection in a “Blocked Country” and therefore, you won’t be able to log into your work resources.
Another reason not to use a “Full tunnel” VPN whilst working from a work computer would be latency, if you are working from an office environment and have VoIP software installed on your device and have a VPN (such as Nord, PIA, Express VPN etc) connected, not only will you be passing all of your business traffic through a third-party, but your calls may also experience disconnections and other issues due to the extra hops required in order for the VoIP call to connect and stay established.
Why should I use a VPN?
If using a VPN as mentioned above causes issues with some applications and has the security implications of running your work data through a third-party provider, it is right to ask, well, why should I use a VPN?
A reason to use a VPN would be to secure your traffic in a tunnel so that it cannot be inspected by other users on the same network. A good example of this would be using a Public WiFi Network. Whilst using a VPN does still send your traffic via a third party, this third party is known to you and you will of made an assessment and determined if you are happy for that VPN provider to have a form of limited access to your DNS lookup queries (website surfed), but Public networks are by their very nature insecure and you are not to know how its been configured, so by using a VPN, you are using “The Devil you know”, rather than “The Devil you don’t”, if you think about it like that.
Another reason you may want to use a VPN is a contrast to one of the reasons I have stated not too for work purposes, geolocation of IP addresses. If, you require your breakout IP address to be that which has been allocated to a different geographical location, such as market research, testing a country level blocking service, accessing international news sites etc, then a VPN of this type would be ideal for your use case.
Further Reading