How to Hide your Internet Activity from ISP

Are you looking for information on how to hide browsing from ISP (Internet Service Provider)? If you're looking for tips on how to maintain Internet privacy, then you've come to the right place! 

This article will cover what information does a VPN hide from your ISP, how it works, and steps on how to do it. Only then can you browse the web in confidence, knowing that your information remains private.

Why Hide your Internet activity from your ISP?

Most people don't realize just how much information their Internet provider can see about their browsing habits. ISPs can monitor what websites you visit and when. So whether you're looking for a new job or browsing reviews for a product you're looking to buy, ISPs can gather information on whatever it is that you're doing online.

As you might imagine, this can be a precarious situation as it could lead to identity theft or worse. Fortunately, there are steps that you can take to hide Internet activity from ISP and protect your privacy while you're on the web. This is where the use of a VPN (Virtual Private Network) comes in!

What Does a VPN Hide From an Internet Service Provider?

As you may already know, a VPN is a privacy tool designed to provide secure and anonymous access to the Internet. In simple terms, it accomplishes this by routing your traffic through an external VPN server. 

VPNs also encrypt all incoming and outgoing information so no one can see what sites you're visiting or modify any data packets without authorization (including your ISP). This is basically how a VPN can hide internet traffic from ISP.

So what specific information does a VPN hide from an Internet service provider, you ask? Well, here are just a few of them:

  • Your IP address
  • Details of email messages, phone calls, and web browsing sessions
  • Tracking the websites you've visited by logging DNS requests (a service that translates domain names into numerical IP addresses sent across the Internet to connect to an app/website server.
  • Download/upload bandwidth usage measured in kilobytes per second. 

Best VPN to Keep Your Online Activity Private

Now that you've learned about VPN ISP privacy, you might be wondering — can you use any VPN? After all, there are plenty of VPN services out there. Some you can use for free, and others require a subscription.

Well, the truth is that, like most Internet services in the market, VPNs are not all created equal. Some will do exactly as promised (keep no logs and protect your privacy on the Internet), while others will do the opposite and leak your information to third parties for profit. As you might imagine, the latter is particularly prevalent among free VPNs.

If you're unsure as to what VPN to use, then you might want to look into the following:

All of the VPNs mentioned above offer a no-logs policy (they don't collect and log information from users), military-grade encryption (AES-256), plenty of server options, fast server speeds, and unlimited bandwidth to support whatever it is that you're doing online.

How to Use a VPN to Keep Your Browsing Private

Never used a VPN before? Don't worry, how to hide browsing from your ISP is not as complicated as you might think and all you have to do is follow a few simple steps to ensure your VPN ISP privacy.

Note that for this example, we'll be citing NordVPN, but the process should be pretty similar to other VPN services.

  1. The first step is to get an account with your chosen VPN service. In the case of NordVPN, all you have to do is log on to their website and sign up for an account. You'll then get a username and password that you can use to log on to the VPN service.
  1. The next step is to download the VPN installer and run it on your device. Like most popular VPNs, NordVPN supports most Internet-capable devices, including PCs, Macbooks, smartphones, and tablets.
  1. Once the VPN app is installed, you can open the app and log on to the VPN service using your username and password.
  1. You can enable the VPN ISP by clicking on “Quick Connect” or choose a specific server on the left side of the VPN app. You can also select a server pinned on the map interface.
hide internet activity from isp
  1. Once it says the connection is protected, your VPN connection is now active, and your ISP can no longer see what it is that you're doing online.
hide internet traffic from isp

Conclusion

So there you have it — the basics of using a VPN and why they are so important to your privacy. Whether you're looking for a way to hide from an overbearing ISP or want to browse anonymously on public WiFi networks, a VPN is a great tool that can help protect your digital identity.

Mark Coulman
About Mark Coulman

Cybersecurity expert with a keen interest in technology and digital privacy. Mark has more than 14 years of experience in creating and managing various reliable WEB applications for IT companies in the EU and the US. Loves 3-4 letter words like PHP, XML, HTML, CSS, DB2, ASP, CRM, ERP, SAP, etc.