do i still need a ....

[JohnnysWang]

if I have the means to make a open VPN server do i still need a vpn provider? can someone explain differences if any.. thanks

[braneopbru]

Usually people subscribe to VPN providers to make the traffic coming out of their home computer to look like it's coming from a different IP address. So if you host a VPN server on your home IP address and connect to it, you'd be making the traffic coming from your home IP look like it's coming from your home IP.

 

Sounds like something you might find being done at the Redundancy Department of Redundancy.

 

Running your own VPN server will allow you to connect your phone to your VPN from outside the home and have it act as if it was on your wifi network when it's halfway across the world. Or you could allow a friend to connect to your VPN and access your NAS without having to open it up to the internet at large.

 

You run your own VPN server for tottally different reasons than why you'd subscribe to a VPN service. One has nothing to do with the other. What you asked is basically like saying "If I can run my own web server, do I still need access to the internet?"