VPN Beginner's Guide: 10 Questions Answered

People new to VPNs tend to ask very concrete questions: can several devices share one account, how is data counted, will speeds be throttled, does it have to stay on, and what exactly is a subscription link. This beginner's guide lines up ten of the most common questions in the order you'll meet them and answers each one straight, no detours.

Start with a set of facts you can check directly: monthly plans from ¥9.9 with 60GB of data; data packs from ¥158 that last until used up and never expire; 120+ countries and 250+ routes; no limit on the number of devices; and a full refund on request within 30 days of your first payment. Everything below is built around these numbers.

The ten questions, in order:

1. What does a VPN actually solve?
2. What do I need to sign up — is an email required?
3. Which payment methods are supported?
4. Can I get a refund if it isn't for me?
5. Can I use it on multiple devices at once?
6. How is data counted — does unused data reset to zero?
7. Will my speed be throttled?
8. What is a subscription link?
9. After installing, how do I import it and confirm it's working?
10. Should I leave it on all the time, and will it affect local sites?

Start with the basics: tunnels, routes and exit IPs

Q1: What does a VPN actually solve?

In one sentence: it builds an encrypted tunnel between your device and a remote server, and your traffic leaves from that server. To whatever you're visiting, the visitor's address is the server's exit IP, not your local network's address. Cross-border work, international websites, and AI tools that are only open in certain regions all rest on this mechanism.

A few terms first, since they come up again and again. Exit IP is the address your traffic finally leaves the network from; a node is the server that provides that exit; a route is a combination of exit region plus tunnel type, such as "Hong Kong IEPL" or "Japan relay"; a subscription is how the client fetches its node list. The route list lays out all 250+ routes by region and type — worth a glance before you pick one.

At the protocol level you'll see Shadowsocks, VMess, Trojan, VLESS, Hysteria2, TUIC and others; they determine how the client and node talk to each other. Beginners don't need to understand the details of each one — the parameters live in the subscription and the client reads them automatically. Only two decisions are really yours: which exit region, and which route type.

Sign-up and payment: no email needed, with a clear refund window

Q2: What do I need to sign up — is an email required?

No email address is required. Sign-up takes a username and a password, with no extra verification step and no other details to fill in. For a beginner that's one less thing to maintain — and if you forget your password, you don't have to dig through your inbox first.

Q3: Which payment methods are supported?

Three: Alipay, WeChat Pay, and USDT. The first two are the everyday options; USDT suits people who settle in crypto. Your data cycle starts on the day you activate, rather than resetting for everyone on the 1st — start mid-month and your first cycle is still a full one.

Q4: Can I get a refund if it isn't for me?

Yes. Within 30 days of your first payment you can request a full refund, no questions asked. "No questions asked" means you don't have to explain how you used it — just follow the process in the dashboard. The trial period and the refund window overlap: pay first, judge later, and refund within the window if it isn't a fit.

Monthly plans and data packs differ in how they're billed: a monthly plan resets your data every month on your activation date, which suits steady month-to-month usage; a data pack lasts until it's used up and never expires, which suits irregular usage or people who only need it at certain times. Upgrading your monthly plan mid-cycle prorates the difference by the remaining days — no need to wait for the next cycle.

Devices and concurrency: what no limit actually means

Q5: Can I use it on multiple devices at once?

Yes — there's no cap on the number of devices. Phones, tablets, laptops and desktops can all be online at the same time, with no extra charge per device and no one-device-per-account binding. Several people in one household sharing a single account falls under the same rule.

Clients exist for all five platforms: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and Linux. The differences between them come down to permissions and how traffic is captured. On macOS the first connection asks you to grant system extension and network permissions; on iOS a system-level configuration prompt appears when you connect — that's how the OS works, not an extra authorization. Desktop clients usually offer two capture modes: system proxy, which only affects apps that respect proxy settings, and TUN mode, which takes over all traffic and is less fuss in environments with many different clients and inconsistent settings.

• ✅ Phones, tablets and laptops online at once, at no extra charge and with no add-on pack to buy.
• ✅ Moving to a new device just means importing the subscription again — no repurchase.
• ✅ A household or small team sharing one account is under the same no-limit rule.
• ❌ There's no one-license-per-device limit, so you never have to unbind and rebind when you switch machines.

Data and speed: how data is counted and whether speeds get throttled

Q6: How is data counted — does unused data reset to zero?

Monthly subscription data resets each month on your activation date. Subscribe on 3/12, for example, and the next cycle starts on 4/12 — not on the 1st of the month for everyone. Data packs work differently: they last until used up and never expire, so leftover data doesn't disappear with time and you can keep using it whenever you want.

Q7: Will my speed be throttled?

It's more accurate to read "throttling" as differences in what each route can do. Three things drive speed: the link from your local network to the entry point, the type of tunnel the route uses, and the load and time of day at the exit region. The same plan will naturally run at different speeds on different routes — the type labels in the route list are there for exactly this judgement.

Clients and subscription links: what to install and how to import

Q8: What is a subscription link?

A subscription link is an HTTPS address provided by the service that bundles your node list: the address, port, protocol and key parameters for every route. The client fetches and parses it on a schedule, so when routes change you don't edit anything by hand — one tap on "Update subscription" is enough. The link looks roughly like this — it's just a URL, with no parameters you have to fill in yourself:

# What a subscription link looks like: one HTTPS address the client fetches and parses on a schedule
https://sub.example.com/link/9f2c4a

A subscription link works like account credentials — anyone who has it can use your route allowance, so don't share it publicly. When you switch devices, just import the same link again; there's nothing to reconfigure.

Q9: After installing, how do I import it and confirm it's working?

1. Download the client: pick the Windows, macOS, iOS, Android or Linux build for your system — the dashboard's download page has every entry point.
2. Copy the subscription link: sign in and find the subscription address in the dashboard, then copy it.
3. Import it in the client: choose "Import from subscription" or "Add subscription", paste the link and save.
4. Update the subscription: the client pulls the node list; once routes appear, pick one with a suitable latency.
5. Connect and verify: once connected, open the IP lookup page and confirm the exit address now matches the route's region.

Everyday use: whether to leave it on, and how to set up routing

Q10: Should I leave it on all the time, and will it affect local sites?

It depends on how you use it — there's no single right answer. If you reach international sites, run AI tools or work across borders every day, leaving it on is simpler: no toggling back and forth, and background mail, sync and updates all take the same exit. If you only look things up now and then, connecting on demand is enough.

The way to keep local sites working isn't to toggle the connection on and off — it's routing rules. With rule-based routing, local sites go direct and international sites go through a route, and both work at the same time.

Routing rules: keeping local sites on a direct connection

Routing rules decide which path traffic takes based on domain, IP range or app. There are three common modes:

• Global proxy: all traffic goes through the route. Simplest to set up, but local sites take the long way round too, costing you speed and smoothness.
• Rule-based routing: built-in or custom rules decide — local sites direct, international sites through a route. The best default for everyday use.
• Direct: bypasses routes entirely; use it only when troubleshooting.

On mobile you can also route per app: only the apps that need international access go through a route, while the rest stay direct. On desktop you choose between system proxy and TUN mode — the former is lighter, the latter covers more.

DNS leaks: a common reason pages won't load even when the connection is fine

A DNS leak means domain lookups skip the tunnel and go straight to your local network. Two things follow: the lookups expose your real network location, and international sites may resolve to a nearby local CDN, which makes them slow or unreachable. Most clients offer a remote DNS or DNS leak protection switch — turn it on and lookups travel through the route along with your traffic.

Checking is simple: connect, open the IP lookup page to confirm the exit address, then visit any DNS leak test page and see whether the resolving server sits in the same region. If the two match, you're almost certainly leak-free.

• ✅ International access every day: leave rule-based routing on permanently and skip the toggling.
• ✅ Only for specific situations: connect on demand, and pair it with per-app routing on mobile.
• ✅ Troubleshooting: switch to direct mode first to confirm your local network is fine, then go back to rule-based routing.
• ❌ Don't leave global proxy as your default — once local sites take the long way round, that's usually where the slowness and oddities come from.

The ten questions in a quick-reference table

The answers above, condensed into one table you can come back to.