Everyone has their own story about how they first met a VPN. Many simply used it on an ongoing basis, while others did not even understand what it was for at all. However, a VPN not only allows you to hide in the network, but also to bypass many regional bans, and even save money. For example, many sites and services are simply unavailable in Russia. You can't visit them without a VPN. Sometimes some services, such as ticket sales, set different prices for residents of different countries. In this case, the VPN allows you to pretend to be a resident of another country and get a lower price. And, of course, do not forget about security, which is significantly higher when using a VPN, especially in networks provided in a public place. All this is a VPN that is sometimes simply irreplaceable.
VPN is important for both computer and smartphone.
Which VPN to choose for your smartphone
First of all, you should understand that free cheese is only in a mousetrap and you can easily be deceived. We have already given several examples of this. Any major VPN service is a huge global network of servers and data centers. All this costs a lot of money and, as much as we would like it, no one will pay this money for us, especially since one server costs about $ 200 – $ 500 per month. As a result, the cost of the entire network runs up to several hundred thousand dollars per month, and this is not counting the maintenance, developers, designers, application creators and maintenance. The creators of the service will still earn and receive their money, the question is, how?
In particular, they can steal your data that passes through them. It will not necessarily be the data of bank cards and payment applications. This is already a fraud and no one will contact this. But analyzing your traffic and selling data to advertising services is easy. In addition, your contacts can be intercepted, which will also find how to use it.
Paid services in this regard are a completely different matter. They value their reputation, as they will earn more money by charging users than on the outside. If the price is low, it is easier to pay and get access to unlimited traffic at high speed.
A good VPN is definitely a boon.
Cons of Free VPNs
In addition to the security issues listed above that come with free VPN services, there are other reasons not to use them.
First of all, among such reasons it is worth mentioning the smaller number of servers in comparison with paid counterparts. This leads to slow and unstable performance, as well as the inability to select servers in some countries of the world that you may need. This is important, because lately we have become accustomed to stability and we have a reason.
In addition to advertisers, your data may be shared with others. In some way they end up on the stock exchange and whoever pays for them will receive them. In many cases, you will not know about this, but you can understand that advertisers received information about your requests if information based on your search queries begins to appear in the SERP.
In addition, free services very often bombard you with advertisements themselves, without even giving you the opportunity to miss it. In combination with the low speed of work, this can lead to the fact that you will not wait for the desired page very soon.
And most of the free services work through China, which for many years has been recognized as the main “disregard” of information confidentiality. Not many will want to transfer their data there.
Something like this, your data is carried on the Internet through a secure tunnel when using a VPN
Many free services do not disclose any information at all regarding their activities. Even the agreement with the user is more for show. Good services are sure to paint everything in detail and be sure to indicate that their policy provides for the absence of logs, which guarantees that no one will save your personal data.
Dangerous VPNs for Smartphones
Hola, one of the largest free VPN providers, was recently exposed. It boasted over 50 million installs, but sold its users' activity to third parties. A third party service called Luminati was used for the sale. This proves once again that free VPNs are dangerous in one way or another. You won't even be saved by the efforts of the developers Android.
How to choose a paid VPN
From the above, we can conclude that the only disadvantage of a paid VPN is that you have to pay for it. Many will have to overpower themselves, but it's worth it.
I used several similar services from different teams, but in the end I realized that for a small amount per month it is much easier to turn it on once and always be safe than to turn on and off protection every time.
Recently I started using VPN from Surfshark. This service not only fulfills its main function, but also offers many useful additional features. For example, automatic disconnection of the connection in case of disconnection from the VPN server and the ability to use not only physical, but also virtual points.
For added security, Surfshark can track malware, block ads, and has 256-bit AES encryption. For some streaming services, for example, Netflix and Spotify, a stable connection is important, otherwise the broadcast will be interrupted when the VPN “falls off.” Surfshark has an auto-connect feature that solves this problem without the user noticing.
The best part is that when you subscribe for two years, this VPN only costs $ 1.99 per month. Even with a jumped rate, it is cheaper than a Yandex Plus subscription, three liters of gasoline, three metro rides, a shawarma, a couple of bottles of light or a cup of coffee in a good coffee shop.
Why am I all this? And to the fact that the security and privacy, which we talk about so much, are not just at arm's length from us, but even closer. For that kind of money, it's definitely not a pity to try it. Moreover, there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.
If you are serious about online privacy, you are probably wondering which service to entrust your traffic and your data to.
Try SurfShark