Yeah they rig the game against you.
Sucks but there is nothing you can do about it.
I uninstalled day 2 of season 1.
I'm sick of skill based mm and behind the curtain rigging of my fps games.
I have done this and not noticed ANY difference unless I use the VPN for the whole connection.
Sure it spoofs your location but I don't think that matters anymore, as in I believe it's either broken or patched
With all the cyber attacks and countries defence systems online there is alot of global internet lag.
That's probably where your spikes/packet loss are coming from
Alot of people here use it to cheat, but like your friend they won't tell you how. Also alot are in denial that they are in fact cheating..
Tbh most of the replies from people are the ones I suspect of cheating.