There are a handful of disadvantages to using a mobile VPN, but they depend on a few key factors: your usual geographic location, your choice of VPN provider, the quality of your phone's mobile service and the relative processing speed of your phone.  Slower speeds: VPNs can slow down your typical browsing speeds by as much as half of their typical pace. We've speed-tested the VPNs we recommend, however, and routinely update them so you can find the fastest speeds if you're concerned about a slowdown. Check out our list of the fastest VPNs we can find.  Dropped connections: If you live in an area with poor mobile data speeds or internet service connection quality, you're going to notice that a VPN may cause you to drop your internet connection more often. You can prevent that by switching from a UDP-based protocol (like Wireguard, used by Surfshark or NordLynx from NordVPN) to a TCP-based protocol. The trade-off is that UDP is generally faster, while TCP is generally more stable. If you're an ExpressVPN user, we recommend switching to Lightway in the settings menu. It's a custom encryption protocol which blends UDP speed with TCP stability for a much more seamless experience.  Some sites will be inaccessible: Some sites rely on your IP address to verify your identity and let you use their services. A VPN hides your IP address. If those sites can't identify you, they may not let you in. Other sites like Netflix, frequently fight VPN user access and will block you from accessing their services if they detect your VPN. Few VPNs are able to circumvent Netflix's blockade, but we test each VPN for streaming ability and report the results in our full reviews. So if streaming on mobile is important to you, be sure to check the full review before you commit to a subscription.