Making Sure Your VPN Works

Once you’re done setting up your VPN, one of the first things you should do is test whether your data is actually being transferred through your VPN network. The simplest way to test this is to check your public IP address, which is the IP address you’re exposing to the internet.

There are numerous websites that will tell you what your IP address is, and where that IP address is located (also known as its geolocation). Many search engines will report your IP address if you search for “My IP,” but you can also use dedicated services like http://www.myip.se and http://www.ipchicken.com.

Check your IP address before connecting to your VPN. Once you connect to your VPN, your computer’s public IP address should change to match that of your VPN server, and your geolocation should change to wherever your VPN server is located.

Once your external IP is the same as the IP of your VPN server, you can rest assured your communication is encrypted.