Many of you might be familiar with the term VPN. You often hear and read about it on the Internet. But do you actually know exactlywhat it is?
In order to consider whether you need a VPN, whether it makes sense for you and whether reaching a free solution is enough, it is important that you first know what a VPN service is.
What is a VPN?
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and it describes a connection that is established through a tunnel between two devices and that remains in place until they are separated. It guarantees secure and private access to every imaginable online service. The connection established between the VPN server and your private computer, is secure against hackers and espionage attacks through various encryption techniques. Nobody, not even governments or their service provider, can access this connection and intercept or read your data.
How can a VPN be useful?
As already mentioned, it is quite possible that your Internet service provider looks at documents in your browser history. This can have several disadvantages. However, if you use a VPN in between, you will solve this problem. The tunnel connection between your PC and the VPN server protects your data traffic in such a way that not even your provider can longer see it.
With a VPN it is also possible to appear at a different locationfora website fromwhereyou actually really are. For example, you can shop cheaper by instructing your VPN to go online with the IP of the country in which the prices for a particular online shop are cheaper. You are not violating any law with this practice and you can save yourself money with a VPN.
Additionally, if you often surf in public networks, a VPN can also be very useful. Unprotected Wi-Fi is open to everyone – including hackers. However, through a VPN it becomes very hard to reach your data.
Does it make sense to use a free VPN?
If you google the web, you will surely find that there are two different types of VPN offers: those that are free and those that you have to pay for. The question they should be asking is whether it makes sense to spend money on such a service or whether afree VPN will do.
That can be answered with a clear yes and no.
You have to be aware of the differences between free and paid offers. And it is also important to be aware of what their online behavior is like.
Are you usually loading a lot of data from the Internet? orare you the type of person that likes to keep permanent protection to your data? If so, then consider a paid VPN.
Why?
Because the data limit that is exchanged via the connection tunnel is usually not unlimited with a free VPN. As a rule, the provider only lets them download a few hundred megabytes via the VPN. And then it’s over.
However, if you buy the service, this limit is usually no longer applicable and you can constantly use the VPN connection, as if you were moving in your own network.
On the other hand, a free provider makes sense if, for example, you only need your VPN to change your browser into a different location. Then you get the IP of the country to which the service is connected. If no data is generated during the connection (which can be short), a free VPN would be sufficient in this case.