Ever since the US government gave their permission to the ISPs to sell their users’ private data to other companies, and pretty much anyone else who wants it, people have been wondering what can be done about it. Having your personal info out in the open like that can be pretty bad and even humiliating, and that’s not what the internet is all about.
Why is this bad?
What’s important when it comes to the internet is the promise of privacy. A promise that the government of the US, as well as many other countries’ has broken, and now everything you do is being recorded and freely given to others, without the need for your consent.
Your potential future employer might decide to buy it from the ISP while they are considering whether or not to give you a job, or companies that work with ads might buy them to calculate what ads should they bombard you with. In any case, your privacy is doomed. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and all you need to prevent this exposure is a VPN.
What is VPN?
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It’s exactly what it sounds like, a private network that can help you and your family members remain anonymous during every single one of your browsing sessions. VPNs do a lot and come with many useful features. They can help in keeping you anonymous and keeping your data secure and private. They can mask your IP address, encrypt your data flow, they won’t log your online activities, and they’ll also protect you from hackers, malware, and any prying eyes that can be found online.
How does it work and what does it offer?
Since VPNs do a lot of things, explaining how exactly they do what they do can be a bit difficult, but we’ll try to explain them anyway. First of all, they’re masking your IP address. What’s important to know about this, is that every VPN provider has a number of servers – the more servers it has, the bigger the network – and these servers are located in many countries around the world.
If you’re in a region that doesn’t allow access to some online content, Netflix, for example, you can use your VPN to connect to the server that’s located in a country that has access to it. So, if you connect to the server that’s within the borders of the US, the internet will ‘recognize’ you as a US citizen and will give you access to the US Netflix package. This method works against any sort of geo-restriction, and it will allow you access to any and all online content, no matter who decided to block it, or what region do you live in.
Next thing that we’re going to discuss, and one of the most important jobs that the VPN does, is data encryption. When you’re connected to the internet, your data can be seen by your ISP, and they’re recording it so that they could sell it to the highest bidder. VPN prevents this by creating a secure tunnel through which your data can flow safely, without the chance of anyone seeing it. Most of them use a very high-quality encryption (256-AES encryption), however, you should explore and ask around when you decide to choose which VPN to use because some of them might be using a weaker one, which wouldn’t be as effective.
Do VPNs Track Activity?
VPNs also don’t log your activity, so you don’t have to fear that your VPN provider will be doing the exact thing that they’re preventing your ISP from doing. This means that they also won’t have anything to give to anyone who comes demanding to see your browsing or download history.
VPNs will also prevent any malware attacks or data leaks, and you won’t have to worry about hacking attacks either.
VPNs also offer many other features that can come in handy when it comes to safely surfing the web. One of the most important ones is a little thing called a kill switch. This is something very useful, and it’s used for breaking your internet connection in case of trouble with your VPN. It comes in handy if you wish to keep your real IP address a secret. If your VPN breaks down, any website that you’re currently on might be able to see your real IP, unless your kill switch is activated, in which case it’ll break your connection in a single second, before you’re tied to the website.
Many VPNs allow you to connect more than one device, and some of the best ones can even allow connecting five or more devices simultaneously. This can also be achieved by buying a VPN router, that will protect all of the devices in your home that can be connected. This is especially useful if you have a house full of IoT devices since they’re often a target for hackers that are looking to create a botnet. Many more features are available, but in order to get them, you’ll have to use a premium package.
Different packages and dangers of free VPN
VPNs mostly offer several packages, so that you can choose the one that best suits your purposes. There are one-month subscriptions, as well as one-year subscriptions, and depending on the provider you decide to go with, there might even be three-month or six-month offers as well. However, there are some VPNs that will offer you a free package, and that’s something that you might want to watch out for. Free package is a very tempting deal, but it’s not a wise decision.
True, you won’t have to pay for your protection, but that means that the package probably isn’t getting that much attention. All sorts of dangers exist in these cases, like the faulty security that might lead to data leaks, or even the possibility of a VPN collecting your data and selling it for profit, since they won’t make money from selling the protection. These are only some of the dangers that you might encounter if you decide to go along with a free VPN, so we would strongly recommend not to do so.
What VPN to choose
This is the most important question, and it’s the one that you’ll have to answer by yourself. There were many VPNs to begin with, and they’ve flooded the internet since the situation in the US escalated to what it is now. Every VPN is different, and they offer different features. Some only offer email protection, others will protect every one of your activities online. Some allow torrenting and P2P file sharing, others don’t, and the problem of choosing the right provider, as well as the right package depends solely on what you need and what you want your VPN to do for you.
We can recommend TorGuard, GhostVPN, IPVanish and Private Internet Access (PIA). These are the four best ones that many internet users have recommended, and we have decided to test them ourselves and were very pleased with the results. You can always try them out since they have money-back policies, which means that you can go back on the deal at any time within the trial period, and get your money back. Use this method to test different VPNs, and you can always explore by yourself and try and find the one that works the best for you and fulfill your needs.
 |
 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Multi-platform Compatible | ||
| 256-AES Encryption | ||
| PRICE | $5 for 1 month with code "best10VPN" | $6.95 a month |
| Website Rating | 9.9 | 8.8 |
| 24/7 Live Chat | ||
| Residential / Dedicated IP for permanent streaming access | ||
| Has Mobile App + PC / Mac Support | ||
| Stealth VPN / Advanced Obfuscation techniques | ||
| Visit VPN Provider | Visit TorGuard | Visit PIA |
Conclusion
VPNs are a great way of protecting your privacy as well as your device, and you should definitely use them. There are many different ones out there, some are cheap or even free, some are expensive, some are flawed and faulty, others are being improved every day by a hardworking team that takes your safety seriously.
We think that you should do so too since the most experienced internet users, that know all too well what dangers can be found online, don’t ever connect without a VPN. Follow their example, buy a VPN package and allow your family and yourself unlimited access to online content, as well as private and secure browsing session at any time.
