The best VPN service is to create your own. Rent a small cloud server on a far away country, and install Open VPN. This is the best form of secrecy online, that I can think of. Of course, it’s still possible to identify you. But it seems much harder to do so.
Either your VPN server would need to have it’s connections monitored, or access to logs from the problematic websites would be required. It’s also necessary for the company which is hosting your server to disclose that your VPN server’s IP is associated with you. And even then, if you encrypt everything in it, there is still room for plausible deniability. But all of this, is a much bigger hassle to the authorities than to just use a traditional VPN service.
With a normal VPN, especially if they have servers in NATO countries, they will provide all logs requested to them and you’re toast. Basically, you’re paying for a false sense of security.
I thought it was through the phone. Android can ping your location, so they know where you are.