Therefore, you have no idea who might be snooping on your internet traffic, browsing history or online activity. Here's a good rule of thumb: If you're away from the office or home, and you're using someone else's Wi-Fi even that of a family member or a friend, because you never know if they've been compromised , use a VPN.
It's particularly important if you're accessing a service that has personally-identifying information. Remember, a lot goes on behind the scenes, and you never really know if one or more of your apps are authenticating in the background and putting your information at risk. Another reason you might choose to use a VPN is if you have something to hide. This isn't just about folks doing things they shouldn't do. Sometimes people really need to hide information. Take, for example, the person who is worried an employer might discriminate against him or her because of their sexual orientation or medical condition.
Another example is a person who needs to go online but is concerned about revealing location information to a person in their life who might be a threat. And then, of course, there are those people in restrictive countries who need to hide their activity merely to gain access to the internet without potentially grave penalties.
It costs a lot to provide the infrastructure to operate a VPN service, from the network pipes to the servers. That infrastructure has to be paid for somehow. If user fees do not pay for it, advertising, data gathering, or some nastier reason are likely to be paid for. Here's another reason not to use a free service, and this one is a lot scarier: Malware providers and criminal organizations have set up free VPN services that not only don't protect you but actively harvest personal data, and either use it or sell it to the highest bidder.
Instead of being protected, you're being plundered. To be fair, not all pay VPN services are legitimate, either. It's important to be careful about which you choose. I've put together an always up-to-date directory of quality VPN providers. Some are better than others and that's reflected in their ratings. But all are legitimate companies that provide quality service. Beyond my directory, it's always good practice to Google a company or product name and read the user reviews.
If you see a huge number of old complaints or new complaints suddenly start showing up, it might be that there's been a change of management or policies. When I'm looking for a service, I always base my decision partially on professional reviews and partially based on the tone of user reviews. Finally, be sure to choose a service with the capabilities that meet your needs. You may need one or more features only provided by certain services. So, think through your needs as you make a decision. Oh, heck no.
A VPN can help ensure you're not snooped on when connecting between your computer and a website. But the website itself is quite capable of some serious privacy violations. For example, a VPN can't protect you against a website setting a tracking cookie that will tell other websites about you. A VPN can't protect you against a website recording information about products you're interested in.
A VPN can't protect you against a website that sells your email address to list brokers. Yada, yada, yada. A VPN does help protect you in the situations we've discussed in previous sections. But don't expect a VPN to be a magical privacy shield that will keep everything you do private and confidential. There are many, many ways your privacy can be compromised, and a VPN will be of only partial help.
That would be a definite maybe. Here's the thing: Back in the day, the process of encrypting and decrypting packets would take a toll on CPU performance. Most current CPUs are now fast enough that most crypto algorithms can run without much of an impact on processor performance. However, network performance is another thing entirely. First, keep in mind that if you're using a VPN, you're probably using it at a public location.
That public Wi-Fi service is likely to range in performance somewhere between "meh" and unusable. So, just the fact that you're remotely working on a mediocre network will reduce performance. But then, if you connect to a VPN in a different country, the connection between countries is also likely to degrade network performance. Server locations matter. My rule of thumb is to use a domestic VPN and connect to servers as close to my location as possible.
That said, I have had good nights and bad nights getting online. On my recent trip, I found most hotels' networks to become unusable after about 9pm. My theory is that many of the guests were watching Netflix at that time, completely clogging the hotels' pipes.
Some do. Some don't. Look at that directory I mentioned earlier because that's one of the factors where a service might lose some points. Some VPN services will limit the total amount of data you can send and receive, either in one connection session or over a month. Other VPN services will limit the speed of the data, effectively sharing less of their pipe with you than might be optimal. That could slow your browsing experience to a crawl or completely prevent you from watching streaming videos through streaming services.
Usually, it's the free services that throttle your usage in these ways. Some paid services will offer a trial, where you can transmit up to a certain data cap before being asked to sign up as a paying customer.
That's actually pretty cool because it gives you a chance to try out the performance of their service before paying, but it also gives the vendor a chance to make money necessary to operate the service. Many VPN services claim that they'll provide you with unlimited data transmission if you pay their fee and won't throttle your speeds.
Generally, this is true, but I'll give you my standard "unlimited bandwidth" warning: It's been my experience that when a vendor says something is "unlimited," it's almost always limited. Somewhere, there will be a note in the fine print or terms of service that allows the vendor to limit you in some way.
It pays to read those agreements. In my VPN directory , I tracked two types of logging. This is pretty nasty stuff. If a VPN service logs this, they would have the information you might choose to hide, like sites you visit, locations where you are, and possibly even information you might be sending. Although the use of these services will still protect you from Wi-Fi spies in your hotel or restaurant, I can't recommend signing up for any service that does DNS, traffic, or IP logging.
There are better, more private options. The second type of logging is more benign. VPN services that log bandwidth usage and connection timestamp data usually do so either to tune their own systems or manage any abuse of their services. I have less of a concern with services that just monitor bandwidth usage, as long as they don't store any specifics. That said, we gave top marks to those services that don't do any logging. Net neutrality has been severely under fire in the US.
The Federal Communications Commission FCC has eliminated many of the consumer protections against internet service providers ISPs harvesting traffic data and selling that data to advertisers, or worse. This could be bad. I'm not terribly concerned if Comcast discovers my secret passion for muscle cars and I get more ads for car customizing kits. It might be annoying, but I'm not doing anything I want to hide.
That could cut off the revenue that keeps websites alive, and that could have very serious repercussions. Some security aspects — like a data breach at an organization where you have an account — are out of your control. But a VPN can help safeguard the information you send from and receive on your devices.
Think about what is important to you. Do you want to be able to surf the web anonymously by masking your IP address? Are you afraid that your information could be stolen on public Wi-Fi?
Regardless of which provider you choose, rest assured that a good VPN will provide more security, privacy, and anonymity online than a public Wi-Fi hotspot can. The inclusion of websites, links, or providers does not imply endorsement or support of any company, product or provider listed herein. The data published herein was updated in October as a tool to assist consumers when considering VPN offerings. Which VPN provider is right for you?
But we can help you comparison shop. We focused on these nine factors to consider when choosing a VPN.
Click on the links if you want to skip ahead. After all, we all want to spend as little as we can each month, right? But focusing only on price could be a mistake. You want your VPN provider to protect your online privacy and encrypt the data you send and receive.
You want it to be reliable. And you want fast connections. All of these factors are just as important — if not more so — than price.
You might also be able to reduce your monthly rate by signing up for a longer term. Many of the top providers offer free versions of their VPNs. But the free versions may be limitations — for instance, on how much data you can use. Some VPN providers offer free trials of their paid versions. The trials typically run for about a month. Some allow to access most of the VPN features of the paid service, although there may be data limitations.
You can cancel your account before the end of the trial. Keep in mind, some free VPNs may collect and share or sell your data to third parties for marketing purposes, while others may not block ads. More important than price is the number of servers your VPN provider offers. In general, the more servers, the better.
If too many users are on the same server, that server can get overloaded. When looking at a VPN provider, then, make sure you sign up with one that does offer a high number of servers. How many servers is enough? But VPN services that boast 1, servers or more may be less likely to get overloaded. Paid VPN providers will offer servers in several different countries. Why does this matter?
Having servers in different countries offers you more flexibility and could boost your connection speed. Usually, your internet speed will be greater if you are connecting to a server that is closer to you.
When you choose a VPN provider, then, it makes sense to select one that has servers in your country. There might be times when you want to connect to a server outside of your country. Maybe you live in a part of the world where the government censors the internet. By connecting to a VPN based in a country without this censorship, you can browse the web more freely. Or maybe you want to access online content that is only available in a country other than yours.
Keep in mind, though, you may be violating your user agreement of your content service. Again, there is no right number of countries or locations for a VPN service. Instead, look for services that offer a large number of locations in a variety of countries. This will give you the most flexibility. This is fairly self-explanatory: You want a VPN service that works with the operating systems on your laptop, smart phone, desktop or tablet. Fortunately, paid services tend to work on all the major operating systems.
But many of us spend a lot of time visiting websites, watching videos, and playing online games through our mobile devices. Fortunately, most major VPN providers — especially those that charge a fee — offer mobile services, too.
All of the companies in our list, for example, do this. Think of how many devices in your home connect to the internet. You have your laptops, tablets, smart phones, and voice assistants. You might even have smart appliances that access the web. Some VPN providers might offer different plans that allow for a higher or lower number of simultaneous connections.
In general, you can expect to pay more for a greater number of connections. Top providers allow you to connect 10 or more devices simultaneously. Pop-up ads can be annoying and dangerous. Even worse, cybercriminals often use pop-up ads — if you click on them — to infect your computer with malware.
You want a VPN service that blocks ads, then. Again, most paid services will do this. And you can see that each VPN provider in our list does block ads. What if your connection with your VPN provider drops? Usually, your laptop, smartphone or other device will revert back to public Internet Protocol address provided by your home Internet Service Provider. This means that snoops could then be able to track your online activity and see your IP address until you connect back with your VPN provider.
Some VPN providers offer a kill switch feature to deal with this. If the VPN connection drops, the kill switch is designed to instantly sever your connection to the internet. The logging of data is why many tech experts recommend that consumers avoid free VPN services.
These services might log your data and then sell them to others as a way to make money because they are not collecting monthly subscriptions. Remember, the purpose of a VPN is to protect your online privacy. Learning about VPNs may seem like it requires a specialized vocabulary. Encryption is essential to helping keep your data unreadable by hackers, private companies, and possibly by government agencies. Encryption jumbles up your data so that others can't make sense of it without the specific decryption key.
In , AES became the U. United Kingdom. Maile McCann, Adam Hardy. Contributor, Editor. Editorial Note: Forbes Advisor may earn a commission on sales made from partner links on this page, but that doesn't affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.
Adaptable to Numerous Smart Devices While many of us may first try a VPN on a company-loaned laptop, many VPN services also protect other smart devices such as your phones, tablets and desktop computers.
Smart Savings If you are willing to put in a little research, a VPN can help you save money via its location spoofing capabilities. Featured Partners. Learn More On Privateinternetaccess. VPNs are not foolproof and, like any software, can be susceptible to hacks and malware. Was this article helpful?
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By Chauncey Crail Contributor. Information provided on Forbes Advisor is for educational purposes only. We like ExpressVPN because they have great speeds and a lot more functionality than average including clients for almost any device—you can even get a router pre-installed with their VPN client. There are other VPN products on the market, of course—we also like StrongVPN for all the configuration options it provides—and for limited use, TunnelBear has a free option limited to MB — which is great if you just need a client briefly.
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