Benefits of a VPN

ISP

When you’re using the internet, the things you do go through your internet service provider (ISP). Your internet service provider acts almost like a traffic light system, when you click on a website, the ISP will be sent this request and will greenlight it.

Due to this, everything you do can be viewed by your ISP with ease. This might not seem like a bad thing, but it has been exploited and used for undesirable purposes in the past.

There is no barrier between you and your ISP, so they can track what you’re doing and then sell your data to advertisers.

You’ve probably noticed this, as it’s a common experience amongst internet users today. You log onto your favorite clothes outlet and search for some new shoes, and suddenly your news feed is full of various shoe companies advertising to you.

Your ISP can also give your data to the government upon request, and again, this is a scary prospect for even the most well-behaved members of society.

Hackers

Another online villain you could run into would be a hacker. Hackers are well known for nefarious activities since the dawn of the internet, often bribing people or stealing passwords and valuable information such as bank and identity details.

All a hacker needs in order to exploit you is an unsecured connection, and without a VPN this is much more likely to be the case. Nobody wants to wake up to find that their social media accounts have been taken over because their password was not secure.

An even more daunting prospect is the idea that you might check your bank account, only to find all of the money that has been spent by an unknown party.

How Does A VPN Provide Privacy?

So, how exactly does a VPN protect you against all of that, and why would you benefit from having one? In simple terms, you could say that a Virtual Private Network will take your internet traffic and protect it within a tunnel.

It does this by encrypting your data in a way that makes it unintelligible to any third-party observers. Usually, a person accessing your information could decipher it very easily, but by using a VPN, your internet activity will go from point A to point B whilst being shielded from any would-be observers.

Even if your ISP, or a hacker, manages to access your data, they will not be able to read it and this will render it useless to them. If the government requests information on your online ventures, they too will hit a dead end.

This is because all of your activity logs become non-existent when using a VPN. In short, the use of a VPN is an excellent way to gain privacy on the net.

Streaming

One of the most well-known perks of using a VPN is the fact that you can access online content that is currently unavailable in your location.

The internet has opened us up to all sorts of new ways to consume media, and one of the most popular ways is through streaming services such as Netflix, NowTV, and Disney Plus.

What can be frustrating is seeing that a brand new show has just been released in another country and you can’t watch it.

Fortunately for you, using a VPN can solve this issue. This is done by connecting to servers in those locations and bypassing any restrictions placed on you in your area.

This is not just useful for streaming services though, as VPNs are popular in places with restricted internet access for general use of the world wide web.

Remote Access

Another benefit of using a VPN is that it can give a much more efficient experience in your day to day life. If, for example, you run a company, there can be some irritating roadblocks that prevent your work from flowing as freely as you would like it to.

You could need to get something done before the end of the day, but you are too far away from the office to finish it on time. To get around this, many organizations have made use of VPN’s. By using a VPN, you can access important information remotely.

You could be at home, or even on holiday, and still, be able to achieve the results you need.

It goes without saying that this leads to a huge increase in productivity for a lot of companies today and is an essential tool in furthering the streamlined nature of the modern work environment.

Faster Connection

Before we go into this section, it’s vital to understand that not all VPN’s will give you a faster internet connection, which is why it’s important to research before you purchase one.

However, we’re going to cover that in slightly more depth in the next section, so for now, let’s look at how a VPN can improve your connection for a more enjoyable browsing experience.

As was explained in the previous section regarding privacy, to use the internet, you need to have an Internet Service Provider.

What many people don’t know is that your ISP can slow your data usage down. This is known as bandwidth throttling, and there are various reasons for it.

Sometimes, an ISP will slow your data usage down, or stop it completely, because you haven’t paid your monthly bill yet.

A more disturbing truth is that some ISP’s cannot uphold their promises for fast internet, and use bandwidth throttling to make things easier for themselves.

One of the most common things ISP’s do is check which websites you visit the most and put them in the “fast lane”, whilst slowing down other things.

With a good VPN, you can hide this information, and get a private, fast experience across the board without any intrusions.

Cost

VPNs tend to offer different packages, and it’s definitely worth viewing each package and weighing up the pros and cons. The need for various services comes with the variety of circumstances that users will find themselves with.

For example, you might use a Windows PC, whilst another user may have a Mac. Different specifications will be required for each in order to get the best results.

Alongside this, there’s also the fact that there are so many different browsers to choose from such as Chrome or Firefox.

When choosing a VPN, it’s important to make sure you know what one works best with your chosen browser.

There are a lot of affordable VPN services out there, so in short, we would recommend finding a VPN ticks the boxes that you require it for, and then comparing prices and reading reviews in order to get the best results within your budget.

Legality

Some users can be concerned with whether or not using VPN’s is actually legal because of the sort of freedom they can offer.

This is an understandable issue, but the chances are you don’t need to worry. VPN’s are completely legal in almost every country in the world.

Certain countries regulate or outright ban the usage of VPN’s, such as China, Iran, and Russia.

This information can be accessed online, but if you’re in one of the countries in which VPN’s are allowed, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t go forward and enjoy the endless benefits.

The Difference Between a VPN and a Proxy

Some people are not quite sure what differentiates a VPN from a proxy, but there are several key factors that separate them.

Proxies are similar to VPN’s in the fact that they hide your IP address and allow you to access content from around the world with ease. However, proxies do not protect your data.

Your online traffic will still be just as vulnerable to ISP’s and hackers, so in this sense, proxy’s are just a fun gadget as opposed to a protective tool.

If you use a proxy, the servers you access will also have the ability to view your online traffic logs, which isn’t the case when you use a VPN.

Consider what it is you’re looking for before deciding between a VPN and a proxy, but if you’re after protection, a VPN will give you many more benefits.