I’ve been wondering about a peculiar behavior I’ve observed when connecting to a VPN on my device. It seems that whenever I establish a VPN connection, I’m unable to share my internet connection via a Wi-Fi hotspot. I know that I can use manual proxy as a solution (although it may not be a comprehensive solution), but I’m curious to understand the underlying reasons behind this limitation.
To provide some context, I’m aware that a VPN encrypts and redirects internet traffic through a secure server, but I’m unclear on how this affects the ability to share the connection.
When you connect to a VPN, it changes the way your device handles internet traffic. Normally, your device would send and receive data directly through your regular internet connection. But with a VPN, your device sends all its internet traffic through a secure connection to another server, somewhere else.
Now, when you try to set up a Wi-Fi hotspot, your device needs to share its internet connection directly with other devices. But because the VPN is controlling where the traffic goes, your device can’t simultaneously direct traffic for the hotspot. This is why the hotspot might not work when the VPN is active. Essentially, the VPN takes over the internet connection, and there’s no easy way for your device to split this control to also manage a hotspot.