Hi

Both, it acts as a middleman that masks your identity and allows you to virtually change your location. When you use a VPN, your actual IP address is hidden from the websites you visit and the services you use. Instead of your device connecting directly to a website, it connects to a secure VPN server first. The website only sees the VPN server's IP address, not yours.

Your Internet Provider can see that you are connected to a VPN, but because the data is encrypted, they cannot see what you are doing or which websites you are visiting.

Choosing a server in your own country (National ) usually provides the fastest speeds. It keeps your IP address private while you still see local news.

Choosing a server in another country (International) makes it appear as if you are browsing from that country. This is used to bypass geo-blocks.

Yo eleanorfreeman04 👋

George already broke it down perfectly above. Just throwin' in my two cents from personal experience — if you ever wanna actually check whether your VPN's really hiding your IP or accidentally leaking your real location (especially when you're jumpin' between local and international servers), there's this free DNS & IP leak test that does the job real nice.

Hope that helps! 😊