A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a network connection that allows you to establish a secure connection to another network over the internet by encrypting your connections. They do this by connecting your device to another server/ computer on the internet, thus allowing you to use its internet connection to browse the web. They are usually used to access websites that are restricted in certain geographical regions and hide your browsing activity over public Wi-Fis.
Initially, they were used by business networks to securely connect them over the internet and enable connections across different office locations. Currently, most of the existing operating systems have support for integrated VPNs. In a nutshell, VPNs are used to:
- Gain some level of anonymity online by masking your actual GPS location.
- Protect the user from snooping on untrustworthy Wi-Fi hotspot connections.
- Bypass geographic restrictions on websites and streaming content.
- Accessing business and home networks while traveling. This is mostly achieved by the use of RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol).
- Obtaining access to the entire internet by bypassing censorship of firewalls as it is the case in The Peoples Republic of China.
VPNs are of two types; free VPNs and paid VPNs.
Providing most, if not all, these service advantages, including managing a global network server, creating customer/ user’s applications, and support can prove to be very costly. For this reason, most operating and running reliable and efficient VPNs are the paid ones. However, as paid VPN services generate their income from user subscription fees, free VPN providers have other means on how somehow to make income from the use of their networks. The most alarming issue about open VPN networks is that some providers maliciously compromise user security and privacy for monetary gain by the use of hidden tools and tricks.
This generally creates the assumption that limited free VPNs are a lot much safer than the other types of free VPNs as they limit data instead of offering a free product, whereas many of the paid networks provide adblockers, malware protection, and unlimited bandwidth for their users at a small fee.
Some free VPNs track and gather the online activity of their users. This data is later availed to online marketing platforms and advertisers to help them make more precise target ads. Whereas some VPNs deny that they share or sell your data, others admit to it in their privacy policies of which most users don’t fully read through.
Most free VPNs such as Betternet and Hotspot Shield’s free app bombard their users with a lot of ads, which can prove to be very annoying as they slow down the internet speed. They use ads as a means of creating a revenue platform for their provides since the services they offer are free.
Some of these Virtual Private Networks slow down the speeds of their free users to encourage them to upgrade to their paid platforms. Other networks like VPN Hola allow their paid users to use the processing power of the devices of their free customers, thus selling off your bandwidth for profits.
Despite the many flaws, for occasional light use, the safest limited free VPNs do work well. Some of these light tasks may include; access to geo-blocked sites at home while on the road, security, and privacy when on public Wi-Fi, among others. They are known to offer the same security features for free users as they do with paid ones but with slower speeds and limited bandwidth.
Top-rated paid VPNs also do offer free monthly trials and guarantees for money-back on the cancellation of the subscription within a given period. This is a great way to enjoy all the benefits of a paid VPN all in one without incurring any cost.
Fortunately, you don’t need to take the unnecessary risk by using a free VPN. The best providers give fantastic value, with subscription plans for as little as $2 or less per month. By investing a few dollars each month, you avoid the dangers we’ve listed above and enjoyed the many benefits of a premium VPN such as:
- No restrictions on internet use.
- Capability of bypassing restrictions and firewalls of significant streaming sites.
- Most use military state of the art security feature to protect their users.
- They protect their users from ISP throttling by masking your online activity and location.
- Most allow access to an unlimited number of devices.
All in all, premium VPNs give you the option to try out their services for a limited amount of time with limited bandwidth. It is generally safe to use free services from VPN providers that provide paid services after a limited amount of time. However, such services will be slow and unreliable; thus, it is still better to go with a paid one who has their processes and systems audited.