Few questions on proxies..

[SE14man]

Quite new to all this and know very little about it!
I have noticed there are some websites which offer fresh free proxies and some which charge for them? Why would people need to buy a proxy when they can just get one for free? What's the difference between paid ones and free ones?

Also if i were to go under one of these free proxies, am i righti n htinking its using someone elses broadband/bandwidth? therefore if i download using the proxy, it wouldnt register with my download quota my I.S.P provided me? Isn't someone losing out on this though? Because if i were to download using a proxy it wouldnt be my bandwidth being used would it? Please tell me otherwise and if it is otherwise pls explain how?

Another question is VPN. I know it stand for Virtual Private Network but i know you can pay subsriptions for VPNs... Is a VPN basically using a server with unlimited download/upload data which allows you to brwose the web and download from it (not involving ANYTHING to do with your standard ISP?)

So if i were to pay for a VPN monthly or whatever is it just like subsribing to another I.S.P, but abroad?

Help me out with this ppl cos im a tad confused with it.

thank you.

[poisondeathray]

Biggest difference is speed. Free proxies are very very very slow, low bandwidth, high latency. You're lucky to get dialup speed (56k) on free proxies

Because if i were to download using a proxy it wouldnt be my bandwidth being used would it?

Nope, you still use your own ISP bandwidth . Traffic is sent from the source, routed through the proxy, to you. (You're essentially downloading from the proxy, so you still use your own ISP bandwidth)

[Baldrick]

Moving you to our computer section as this it not video related.

[jagabo]

Free proxies also limit what services are allowed. You may get HTTP (web browsing) but not bittorrent, for example.

[hech54]

I sometimes use Hotspot Shield to get me to America to watch a few TV shows occasionally....that's my extent of proxy knowledge.