How Does a VPN Work?
You must have been living under a rock if you haven’t heard about VPN for protecting your personal information. Here’s a beautiful visualization of how many data breaches has happened since 2008, and we should say it’s rather a terrifying picture. We bet that talking at how much data has leaked will convince you that you need to take some preliminary steps to ensure your online safety.
But which tools should you choose, if the market is flooded with different privacy solutions? We believe a good VPN is the best way to safeguard your online identity, as well as gain access to geo-restricted data and enjoy the full array of experiences online.
What is a VPN?
A VPN is a secure tunnel between your device and one of the servers provided by the service. It protects your data from being spied upon while allowing you to access all the content you want to, as it masks your personal IP address.
Users rarely give a second thought to the fact that their ISP can see all their online activity, their IP address and location most of the time. This means that combined together with a little research a lot, it can lead to you in the real world. Sounds scary? Thankfully, VPNs are here to protect us from the ever-increasing state surveillance and nasty marketers with their “best ad experience.”
How does a VPN work?
When you connect to the Internet without a VPN, your device sends a request to your Internet Service Provider (ISP), which in turn directs it to the target site or service. This way your ISP can see everything you do online, as you are literally asking them, e.g. “Show me pictures of kittens.” Many ISPs exploit this feature to sell your data to advertisers and gain additional revenue to the costs they make you pay for their services.
Are you flaming with rage yet? Then you are officially ready to adopt a good VPN as your go-to privacy solution.
To put it simply, a VPN acts as an intermediary between you and your ISP. So, add to the equation You – ISP a new link, and it becomes You – VPN – ISP. The VPN assigns you a new address, thus making you anonymous. Moreover, it encrypts your traffic, so the provider doesn’t know your requests, browsing history and any other online activities. In other words, they are forced to act as a carrier of a sealed box they can’t and don’t have means to open.
Do I need a VPN?
Most people believe they don’t need a VPN since they are not doing anything bad online. This stereotype often holds people back from exploring the immense possibilities a good VPN offers. If you care about any of the following, you should at least try using VeePN:
- General privacy and security. We are sure that in today’s world everybody needs a good VPN, but even if you think otherwise, a little extra encryption wouldn’t hurt, right? With your real IP address safely hidden, and all the data encrypted by the top-level standards, you can be sure no one is watching over your shoulder.
- Protection from hackers. The bad guys are on a constant watch for you to slip, to make a tiny mistake so you can hijack your data. Lift the pressure of constant vigilance by getting a good VPN. So far it’s the easiest and most reliable way to protect yourself from hackers.
- Accessing websites and services. You may be limited by the services themselves. For example, did you know that the TV series accessible for Netflix users in the US, the UK and Australia differ a lot? VeePN might be a good choice if you prefer to pick the things you want to watch by yourself.
- Bypassing bandwidth throttling and speed limitations. So, here’s a bummer – some ISPs artificially limit your speed and bandwidth, especially when you are performing demanding tasks. If you want to access the full power of your connection (the one you are paying for, actually), you definitely should try a VPN.
How to pick a good VPN
Now, if you google “download VPN” or something along those lines, you will be flooded with hundreds of ads. Once clever programmers have figured out that private is the new black, they started creating VPN apps. We are at a place where there are dozens of options, but not so many of them are good.
So how do you pick a good one, preferably for a reasonable price? Here is the list of things you should consider when searching the market for a suitable option:
- The number of available servers and locations.
- Jurisdiction under which the service operates.
- Logging policy, privacy policy.
- Availability for different platforms.
- Number of devices under one subscription.
- Encryption protocols and other privacy features.
- Pricing plans and payment options.
Let’s take a look at these things in more detail.
Servers and locations
You obviously want a VPN that grants you access to as many services and websites as it’s only possible, and this number is usually based on the number of available servers. For example, VeePN has 2500+ servers in 48 locations worldwide.
However, don’t go for the quantity alone, check the uptime of the servers, as well as their level of security. Thousands of servers would be of little to no use if they could not handle the load, so the connection frequently fails.
Positioning and jurisdiction of the service
If you are not a lawyer that deals with VPNs, why would you care about this? Well, there’s a good reason, as it impacts directly the safety of your information. If the service operates under the jurisdiction of a country with known surveillance practices, such as the US, for example, this means your data may be collected despite you being from another corner of the world!
VeePN is based in Panama, which doesn’t have any surveillance-related laws. This means that, first of all, your data is safe with us. Secondly, not a single law in the world can make us disclose your data, so you’re all set here.
Logging and privacy policies
This point is interconnected with the previous one. As we’ve already said, you want a VPN that doesn’t spy on you – or else what is the point in getting yet another service that gathers and stores your data.
VeePN has a strict no logs policy, which means we don’t store any of the connection and activity logs, including your IP address, browsing history and location. We strive to provide our users with a truly anonymous experience. We also don’t disclose or sell this data to any third parties as there is simply nothing to disclose.
Platform compatibility
Look for a VPN that covers as many platforms as it’s only possible, so you don’t have to buy a separate product if your kids own iPhones, but you stick to Android. VeePN covers major operating systems, including MacOS, iOS, Android, Windows, and Linux. The app also is tailored for the three most popular browsers, such as Opera, Mozilla, and Chrome.
The number of devices
The average household now owns a whopping 24 electronic devices! This, of course, includes cell phones that are no longer in use and kitchen appliances, but the number is still stunning. Protecting everything that can connect itself to the Internet, and thus transfer information about your life can be hard.
VeePN covers up to 10 devices under one subscription simultaneously! If you own a moderate amount of electronics, you can even share it with friends or neighbors to reduce costs.
Encryption and everything connected to privacy
Encryption is the heart of any VPN. If it’s good, the VPN’s going to be good. Always look for additional privacy features, such as DNS Leak prevention and Kill Switch. They ensure 99.9% security while lifting the constant pressure of control off your shoulders.
VeePN utilizes the AES-256 top-level encryption to protect your data by the highest standards of the cybersecurity technology. We also have the Kill Switch and DNS Leak protection automatically set to “ON” so you are always protected even against the tiniest possibility of a threat.
Pricing and payment options
You’ve made your decision, and you are at the final stage. But does the VPN you like offer convenient and affordable pricing plans, as well as comfortable paying options? VeePN offers four pricing plans so every user could find something suitable for them. We also have a 7-day free trial and 30-day money-back guarantee.
As for the payment, we offer such options as the credit card (Visa, MasterCard, and American Express), PayPal, Cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Ripple), as well as many other payment services, including Alipay, UnionPay, Webmoney, Giropay, Sofort Banking, iDEAl and more.
Conclusion
VPN applications have left the category “whims of geeks” long ago, but nowadays they are entering the “bare Internet necessity” category. However, with new apps entering the market every day, it can be rather difficult to pick the right one for you.
We hope that this article helps you to choose a VPN that fully corresponds to your requirements. We also welcome feedback, if you choose VeePN and happen to see some bugs in the app. Or, maybe, you just want to save a couple of good words – we appreciate that a lot!
VeePN is freedom