Your public IP address will depend on which server you are using as your exit node. The help article mentions selecting a location for the server, but doesn't mention being able to select a specific server in that city:

How do I choose my server on Mozilla VPN?

Hopefully someone who has used the product can share their experience about that.

I am not a computer wiz, just a senior citizen who wants as little hassle as possible. This server stuff is meaningless to me. I just want to get to sites without answering time consuming questions.

Thanks anyway

Why are you thinking of using a VPN? If the benefits to you do not outweigh the hassles, then you probably shouldn't use one.

I want a VPN for privacy. I don't know if the benefits outweigh the hassles because I haven't gotten an answer to my question. If websites recognize my computer, then there is no hassle.

Most sites (repeat: most) will stop asking you questions after you confirm/verify it was you. However, if you change the VPN server that you use to connect (which you shouldn't need to do unless there's a problem with that server), there's a good chance you'll be asked again. I rarely get asked by "important" sites: My google account, bank, credit card etc. But it will happen every now and then. The unimportant sites tend not to care how you connect.

It's easy enough to turn it off briefly if a particular site is giving you problems.

But keep this in mind: If you want privacy online, you need to do a little work and that means some minor inconveniences. But they should indeed be minor as a good VPN makes it pretty easy.

Shane, you make it sound rather innocuous, but for me it's a big problem when dealing with Gmail. The full procedure with Google is 1) you have to click to get a code sent to you (I use my phone), wait a few minutes, and then click the "Resend code" because it never, ever comes on the first click. Then 2) enter the code to finally get in. All total takes about 5 minutes to get in.

But for me there are two BIG problems with this. FIRST, I have about A DOZEN Gmail accounts for different uses. For example, the account I use to register here is NOT the same I use for shopping, or my personal use. SO take the above steps and repeat them over and over and over and over and over and ....

And that's EACH TIME the VPN IP changes, which if you use the RANDOM server option pretty much means each and every time.

Problem TWO -- I use THUNDERBIRD to automatically connect and download and sort the mail from all of these accounts. When the IP changes, the logins simply don't work and I have to escape out of THUNDERBIRD, get on my Firefox, and "revalidate" myself a dozen times -- yet again.

So if you REALLY want to answer the question, tell us how we can either keep the same VPN server for all of our sessions or some other way to get past the Gmail IP check.

NOTE: I am NOT currently a subscriber to Mozilla VPN. I would become one IF the Gmail problem is addressed, but I'm not going to fork out $5/month for something my < $1/month VPN is already doing.

And that's EACH TIME the VPN IP changes, which if you use the RANDOM server option pretty much means each and every time.

Can you turn off that option?

I'm using NordVPN, and I _use_ to be able to specify which server to log into at startup, but they apparently took that away. Fortunately, they show the last 3 servers connected to, so after getting on I only have to re-select the one I need. BUT there ARE advantages to using random servers -- makes it even harder to track you -- so it would be really nice to be able to do so.