Ok, so I don't know much about VPN's or Networking, or Servers.. But I do know that VPN is pretty much a more secure Network of Servers that allow people to have the privacy they want in public places that provide wifi that anyone can sign on to. Now forgive me if this idea sounds completely stupid that dosn't make much sense to began with..
But Would a VPN Provider be a solution to bad internet service?
I have a friend who lives in Canada and you can bet that not only is Internet more expensive up there, but not as great due to the tough geography the Canadian mother land provides along with the small population of working Joes..
Anyway I'm tired of my friend having to use a crappy Phone hotspot trick just to talk to me over the internet, but I got wind of these 'VPN' s and they sounded like good solution.. but I would like a seconded opinion..or ten..or a thousand..
Most of the time, a VPN won't help because it just adds another point between your computer and the server you're trying to access. Typically, this means your connection speed will be slightly slower, and there'll be more latency (Although, the affect of this varies depending on the VPN service you're using).
VPNs can only speed up your connection if your ISP is throttling your connection to certain services. Any service you access via the VPN is seen as a connection between you and the VPN server, by the ISP. The service that you're accessing via the VPN sees the VPN's IP address. This is how you can get around stuff like region blocks using them.
If the connections bad because of bad infrastructure, a VPN won't help at all.
Think of it this way (there is a lot of abstraction (encryption, types of tunnels etc) but for simplicities sake..).
You write a letter and send it off
on the way to the post office the VPN takes your letter and puts your envelope inside another envelope that is address to its address.
that envelope goes to that VPN's address and that top envelope gets opened up and there is your original letter you sent.
The VPN then sends of your original letter to the destination.
The receiver then sends off the response back to the VPN
The VPN then puts that response inside an envelope and sends off to you
You recieve that envelope, take off the outer envelope and see the response contents.
Rinse and repeat.
In answer to your question would a VPN service be a solution to a bad internet service?
Well that depends on if the ISP prioritieses certain traffic, for example if they hypothetically have some deal with Amazon Prime then perhaps they throttle or lower the priority of the traffic for say Netflix traffic. With a VPN they wont know the difference between Netflix, Amazon etc traffic.
Running his connection through a VPN wont make the phone experience any better, UDP traffic like VOIP material shouldnt be throttled at all. Even minimumly encrypted VPN tunnels add considerable amounts of overhead to VOIP, sometimes making the phone calls painful have.
His best best is to call you on the phone and you answer on a phone.