Simultaneous connections
How many devices can use one subscription at the same time.
Glossary
Router VPN
Running the VPN client on your router so every device on the network is covered without individual installation.
Why it matters
It covers devices that cannot run a VPN client at all — smart TVs, consoles, IoT hardware — and uses only one connection slot.
What most explanations leave out
Consumer router hardware is usually too slow to encrypt at line speed, so throughput drops sharply. There is also no per-device control: everything is tunnelled or nothing is. Most people are better served by running clients on devices and using the router only for what cannot.
Related terms
Split tunnelling
Routing some applications or destinations through the VPN while leaving others on your ordinary connection.
Terms are defined here because they appear in our scoring rubric or in provider reviews, not to fill a glossary.