Recnt news about Facebook collecting your data has sparked a huge debate about how companies use your data in the first place. The Federal Trade Commission
Recnt news about Facebook collecting your data has sparked a huge debate about how companies use your data in the first place. The Federal Trade Commission has said that it is investigating Facebook over breaking privacy violations.
If you’re in the market for the best VPN to keep your browsing secure, then you’ve come to the right place. We’ll explain what a VPN is and why you need one, but first check out these top VPN prices.
VPNs, or virtual private networks, are becoming more popular as a means to keep internet browsing private and access services that may be region locked, as well as help people hide away from the more malicious parts of the internet.
In normal internet use, your data flows from your computer, mobile device or home network across your internet service provider’s (ISP) infrastructure and out to the internet on its way to the server on which the website or service you’re accessing is based.
During this journey all manner of people could be snooping on your data and activity by tracking your IP address; from governments and hackers to advertisers looking to work out what you’re interested in to target their ads at you.
All this saps at your internet privacy and can potentially put you in the firing line of hackers and cyber criminals.
By effectively creating an encrypted and secure connection between your computer and a VPN server, your actual IP address is hidden from snoopers, who will only see the VPN’s IP address, essentially masking your internet activity.
But VPNs have another trick up their sleeves: they can spoof your location. Many popular streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu and BBC iPlayer have content locked to specific regions, while some gaming services cannot be accessed from certain nations. And countries like China often ban access to certain websites like Facebook.
Through the use of “geo-spoofing” you can use a VPN to look like you’re browsing within a country where service and website blocks don’t apply.
There are a lot of VPNs around, some very similar to each other, some offering a service with a specific angle, such as ease-of-use or security. To help you work out which VPN is best for you, we have selected ten of the best VPN services available for both beginners and experienced users alike.
Aimed at people who want a VPN outside their home country to access region locked services like US Netflix from the UK, as well as keep their internet browsing private, ExpressVPN offers more than 1,500 servers across 94 countries.
Thanks to a clean user interface, ExpressVPN is easy to setup for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and Linux devices, as well as offering support for kit such as smart TVs and games consoles, and it also comes with 24/7 live chat customer support if you happen to get stuck.
Alongside a reputation for solid support, the service offers a “kill switch” to hide your IP address if the VPN connection happens to drop, peer-to-peer support and powerful encryption.
This comes at a price: $12.95 a month or $8.32 a month for a 12-month service, and you’ll need to sign up to it right away as there’s no free trial. ExpressVPN also only supports up to three connections, but if you don’t feel like it’s going to fulfil your VPN needs then a 30-day money back guarantee means you can give it a whirl across a couple of devices and see if the performance and features on offer justify the price.
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A well established name in the VPN world, NordVPN is known for offering very secure connections thanks to using military-grade 2048-bit encryption which it applies twice to connections to its 1,000 plus servers spread across 61 countries and counting.
A straightforward interface means you can easily connect up to six devices, whether they run Windows, Mac, iOS, Android or even BlackBerry OS, to the secure service.
Alongside peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing support, a kill switch, and fast connection speeds, NordVPN offers additional privacy features like the ability to use dedicated IP addresses, enable ad blocking, and pay using bitcoin.
NordVPN boasts no data logging and a cyber security option to help you avoid malware riddled websites while still enjoying your web surfing freedom.
Finally, unlimited bandwidth as well as being one of the few services to support access to The Onion Router (TOR) network over VPN completes NordVPN’s features.
And all this comes at a reasonable price, starting at $11.95 a month, reducing to $3.29 a month for a 2 year contract. There’s even a 30-day money back guarantee to sweeten the deal.
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In contrast to the more straightforward VPN services, Private Internet Access has been designed to help power users get the most of their VPN connections.
Private Internet Access comes loaded with support for all manner of platforms, including Chromebooks and routers, as well as support for P2P connections, unlimited bandwidth and a policy to not log any activity.
Access to a maximum of five device connections is on offer, and those devices can access some 3,253 servers across 25 countries, with Private Internet Access claiming that these are real locations with access to real “bare metal” servers, though users are not able to select specific servers.
For both privacy and flexibility, there’s a kill switch, ad-blocker and anti-tracker tools, while the ability to pay for the service with bitcoin adds another layer of anti-snooping.
The interface leaves a little to be desired in terms of slickness and clarity of information, but people familiar with using VPNs and keen to make use of the features Private Internet Access offers will not likely be put off by the user interface.
No free trial is on offer, so if you want to take a punt with Private Internet Access the most affordable pricing plan will set you back $39.95 for a year’s worth of use, which works out at an affordable $3.33 a month. People not willing to commit to 12 months use can access Private Internet Access for $6.95 per month
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For people who travel a lot or like to work out of coffee shops and make prolific use of public Wi-Fi hotspots, KeepSolid could be the VPN you need to keep your internet use private and unrestricted.
Thanks to more than 1,200 servers located across 80 locations, and support for five devices ranging from Windows PCs to Android and iOS smartphones, KeepSolid provides a VPN service with solid performance and a decent range of configuration options, without becoming too complex for the average user.
One particularly interesting feature is KeepSolid disguises its VPN traffic as HTTPS traffic, which allows it to bypass blocks in nations which have banned the use of VPNs and have restricted access to the internet.
Power users can pick personal IP addresses and even opt for a personal server that won’t be shared with other KeepSolid VPN customers, but you’ll need to pay $21.99 per month for that privilege. All this can be accessed through a smartly designed user interface that offers a glut of information.
Fans of torrenting should be aware that while BitTorrent is supported, torrents are not supported across all servers and accessing region-specific Netflix is also currently unavailable.
KeepSolid brings a lot of flexibility when it comes to pricing, with weekly option on offer starting at $3.99, running through to $89.99 for a lifetime’s use. Monthly cost comes in a $9.99, but sign up for a year and that drops to the monthly equivalent of $4.16. Combined with a 7-day free trial, the range of options available should give you plenty of scope to see how KeepSolid’s VPN service can suit you.
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Special offer: 3 year special offer plan is only $69.00 ($1.91 per month). Read more about it here.
PureVPN have an incredible offer currently offering you 3 years of VPN access for only $69.00 .
A big name in the VPN world, PureVPN is aimed at people who want some of the fastest connections around, as well as a wealth of connection options, thanks to its 750 plus servers in more than 141 countries and giving users the option to choose which data they wish to send through a VPN and which they want to pipe through a regular ISP connection.
PureVPN also offers a full suite of VPN features, ranging from unlimited server switching and data transfer, to ad blocking, anti malware protection and filtering of URLs to avoid people from accessing websites loaded with spam and malicious code.
Completing the rest of the feature list is support for multiple security and connectivity protocols such as OpenVPN and PPTP and 256-bit encryption, while a secure Wi-Fi service help keep users safe when using a public Wi-Fi hotspot.
