There are a number of options if you’re looking for the best VPN for torrenting, privacy, evading censorship, keeping anonymous online, getting past geographic restrictions, or simply changing your location. Continue reading to learn how to choose the best VPN for you.
Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, are a quick and easy way to make your computer appear to be from another place. They do this by building a virtual network that passes all of your PC or smartphone’s network traffic through an encrypted tunnel and out the other side, giving the impression that you’re truly in the place where the VPN server is situated to the rest of the world. This can help you dodge censorship, circumvent geographic restrictions, and remain (relatively) anonymous online.
The trouble is that there are a plethora of VPN companies to select from, each with its own set of benefits – how do you know which one to use?
Why Use a VPN?
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a piece of software – or occasionally hardware – that establishes a virtual tunnel to a remote VPN server, allowing you to access the Internet.
While VPNs were originally designed for large corporations to ensure the protection of sensitive data and offer remote access to employees from anywhere they work, they also have a variety of applications for individuals.
Nobody can see the data you’re sending because your connection is encrypted. Especially on public WiFi networks, your traffic cannot be intercepted in order to acquire personal information such as credit card numbers.
You can fool websites and other third parties into thinking you’re in another country by masking your IP address with one from a server in another country. As a result, you can freely and privately access the Internet.
How does a virtual private network (VPN) work?
To use the internet, you must have an IP address. When you use the internet for email, web browsing, or any other online activity, your IP address is how other computers find you and provide you with the information you request.
Unless you take steps to prevent it, a startling amount of information about you is collected while you’re online. This includes your online identification, location, browsing and purchasing habits, the websites you visit, the advertisements or links you click on, and even the parts of the page you’re looking at (people tend to hover their mouse-arrow over the area they’re focusing on).
All of this information about you is an online marketer’s dream, and while it may provide some convenience for you, such as providing localized and related information that you may find useful, there is a potential dark side to all of this data collection – including highly targeted (and thus believable) online scams, fraud, and even identity theft.
In a word, a VPN encrypts all data sent and received by your computer, making it impossible to intercept and decode it. It also passes your data across multiple servers to prevent it from being traced back to you.
Why Are VPNs So Popular?
1. They Provide Online Privacy
VPNs have been available for approximately two decades, but they have only recently gained widespread popularity among regular users. This is due in large part to government agencies such as the NSA and GHCQ aggressively spying on their populations. When Edward Snowden revealed the NSA’s Prism program, it hit everyone like a tonne of bricks. People flocked to VPN services to disguise their internet activity and reclaim their online privacy, assuming they had it to begin with.
2. Online Streaming Assistance
Streaming services are usually geo-restricted, but a good streaming VPN can enable you to access them from wherever. Streaming services like Netflix and devices like Kodi are more popular than ever because of an increase in internet users. VPNs allow you to unblock Netflix and other streaming services while also masking your online behavior. This is particularly crucial for Kodi users who frequently use free streaming sites.
3. Help Bypass Censorship
For various reasons, the Internet is banned all over the world. Schools and businesses, for example, may restrict access to entertainment websites and services. Countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, China, and others have blocked large portions of the internet, including Wikipedia, news websites, social media, and so on. VPNs allow you to bypass these barriers and browse the internet freely. Many of these countries have outright prohibited the use of VPNs.
How to Choose a VPN – 13 Things to Look For in a Provider
You might be wondering, “What makes a decent VPN provider?” now that you’ve reviewed your VPN requirements. Aside from having a variety of plans at a fair price, other important factors to consider when picking a VPN service that’s perfect for you are:
1. Supported Protocols
To protect data as it flows across the tunnel, VPNs use a number of security protocols, but not all of them are created equal. Each technique has its own set of benefits and drawbacks to consider.
PPTP should be avoided at all costs unless you’re into streaming. It’s an out-of-date protocol with inadequate encryption and numerous known security flaws. While PPTP is a great way to get access to geo-restricted websites and protect your non-sensitive browsing, it isn’t secure enough for serious security.
L2TP/IPSec is regarded as a more advanced and secure variant of PPTP. It is far more secure than its predecessor, but it lags behind in terms of speed. SSTP is one of the safest protocols available, but non-Windows devices have limited support. Although it is rather quick, the high level of encryption can cause it to slow down.
IKEv2/IPSec is one of the most secure and fast protocols available, but it’s better suited to mobile devices that transition between Wi-Fi and data. OpenVPN is the greatest all-around protocol since it provides strong security without sacrificing performance. Remember that a decent VPN service will provide you the ability to select from all of these alternatives.
2. Cross-Platform Compatibility
Although most VPNs support all main platforms, including Windows, iOS, Android, and Mac, some do not. If you have a Windows computer but an Android phone, you’ll want to be sure your VPN has apps for both.
Check the number of devices you can connect at the same time, but we’ll get to that in a minute. The finest VPN services will include manual configurations for Smart TVs, routers, set-top boxes, gaming consoles, and other devices that connect to the Internet on a regular basis, in addition to clients for mobile and desktop platforms.
3. User-Friendly Interface
Many VPNs have a complicated setup process and user interface that you may not like. If you’re not tech-savvy and don’t want to deal with problems when using a VPN, go for one with well-organized, polished, and intuitive apps.
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4. Number of Servers & Locations
Do you want to be able to watch Netflix and other US streaming services without being restricted by your location? Then, let’s face it, picking a VPN company with the majority of its servers in Asia and Africa is pointless. Don’t settle for anything less than a large number of servers spread throughout several countries.
Ideally, you should search for a VPN provider that has hundreds, if not thousands, of servers in all of the world’s major cities. The more servers you have, the better, as you’ll be able to freely switch between them to access various types of geo-restricted content.
5. Simultaneous Connections
On your laptop or desktop, you’re using a VPN, which is fantastic. But what if you want to connect all of your household’s gadgets to a VPN? Of course, you’ll need a VPN provider that allows you to connect to numerous sessions at once.
You should choose a VPN provider that allows at least ten simultaneous connections, especially since the coronavirus pandemic has caused more of us to work (and play) from home. It’s also preferable if you can connect your router to the VPN. It allows you to secure all of your devices at once without using up all of your concurrent logins.
6. Bandwidth without Limits
Paying for VPN service only to be throttled again is a horrible idea because one of the main reasons people use VPNs is to avoid ISP throttling. Prior to the streaming age, bandwidth constraints may not have been an issue.
However, due to the growing popularity of music and video streaming, the available bandwidth is insufficient. As a result, you should avoid VPNs that impose bandwidth restrictions.
A good VPN service, on the other hand, will not limit the amount of bandwidth you can utilize. You may enjoy the comfort of downloading, browsing and streaming as much as you like because there are no quotas to worry about.
7. Internet Connection Speed
Because of the encryption procedure that takes place when you use a VPN, your connection speed slows down to some extent. This can be a deal-breaker if you want to view your favorite material or download files without interruptions.
The most popular VPNs have workarounds in place to ensure that you always have a fast connection, no matter where you are. Consider dedicated servers designed for streaming and peer-to-peer file sharing.
8. Methods of Payment
Another essential consideration is how you pay for your VPN service. Payment via anonymous means is unlikely to be significant to you if you wish to buy a VPN to access a public Wi-Fi network safely while traveling.
You’ll be interested in anonymous payment options if you wish to buy a VPN to protect your online anonymity or avoid political oppression. Fortunately, several excellent VPN providers provide anonymous payment options like gift cards and cryptocurrencies. No one will ever know that you were the one who paid for the service this way.
9. Money-Back Guarantee
You wouldn’t want to get stuck with a VPN that you don’t want, no? Avoiding this by using VPNs that offer a money-back guarantee is a good method to avoid it. Even if you choose a VPN that does not meet your requirements, you can always cancel your subscription.
To allow you to try out their services risk-free, all of the leading VPNs provide a money-back guarantee ranging from 7 to 31 days. If you’re dissatisfied, you can claim a refund as long as you request it within the relevant time frame.
10. 24/7 Customer Support
Because VPN technology is constantly evolving, you may find yourself in a situation where you’ve hit a snag. Regardless, one of the most ignored aspects of choosing a VPN is whether or not the supplier offers 24/7 customer assistance.
Customer support in the VPN industry is typically provided through channels such as live chat, email, and tickets. However, a VPN with live chat is recommended because you can obtain rapid responses to your questions.
11. Advanced Features
If you rely on a VPN to keep your online activities hidden, you’ll want to sign up for a service that is completely leak-proof. After all, what good is a VPN service if it doesn’t accomplish what it’s supposed to do?
Premium VPNs offer a wide range of advanced capabilities to protect your data and identity. IPv6 leak prevention, Internet kill switch, DNS leak protection, and WebRTC leak protection are just a few examples.
12. Privacy-Friendly Jurisdiction
Avoid VPNs based within the Five, Nine, and Fourteen Eyes Alliances if you don’t want anyone to know what you’re doing online. This is due to the fact that these companies must cooperate with government requests to reveal personal user data.
VPNs based in privacy-friendly nations like Hong Kong, Switzerland, and the British Virgin Islands are reliable. They also don’t keep any logs of your VPN usage, which leads us to the next point.
13. Strict No-Logs Policy
Almost every VPN on the market claims to maintain no logs of your browser sessions, in case you hadn’t noticed. Do they, however, really mean it? Looking for VPNs that have completed third-party audits is the only way to be sure.
During your study, you’ll notice that few suppliers have gone above and above to back up their privacy guarantees. If you want to be anonymous and private every time you go online, you’ll need a tried-and-true no-logs policy.