Advantages and Disadvantages of using Virtual Private Network (VPN)

VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a secure private network extended to the public network or the Internet. VPNs hide your IP address so your online movements are virtually untraceable. VPNs establish a secure and encrypted connection that provides greater privacy. You can buy vpn to protect your computer and desktop from various threats.

Working of a Virtual Private Network

A VPN creates a tunnel between you and the webpage you want to access. The communication happening between you and the website is routed via a secure another location. This location could be thousands of miles away, making it seem like you are in another place. VPNs use data encryption when you send the request for any webpage and then routes that request through another server. For starters, the pirate bay mirror service is reliable and appropriate.

Now there are two types of VPN services available in the market. One is free and the other is paid. Almost all the free VPN services have some kind of catch. Sometimes there is a browsing limit, low bandwidth, low connection speed, or streaming services are not available. There are many free VPN services available in the industry.

Advantages of using a free VPN Service

1. The communication between the user and the webpage is encrypted and this service is free.

2. You can bypass the geological restrictions imposed by your home country.

These are some of the advantages but there can be some ill-effects of using a free VPN service as well. The service providers can have access to your online activities. The speed and bandwidth of your internet service will be hampered several times. Sometimes, you will be bombed with irritating advertisements if you use a free VPN service.

Paid VPNs cover all the aspects of an ideal VPN service. It provides optimized connections that result in the best speed, security, and stability. The encryption is 256-bit AES military grade. The customer support team is always at your disposal via chat and email.

VPN is legal everywhere in the world except for one/two exception countries. A good and reputable VPN service is very safe and secure to use. It will protect your anonymity and it will have high-level security features that prevent different hacking attacks. The browsing and downloading activity passing through the tunnel is impossible to track and hack. Your data will be protected from your internet service providers (ISP). Your ISP can see that you are using a VPN. They can detect that the traffic is hidden from them. The new IP address you get from the VPN server gives it away to the ISP. The best part is that the data and website you are browsing is hidden from the ISP.

VPNs are available for computers, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. Yes, you can use a VPN service for your Smartphone, if you have sensitive data on the device.

Nowadays, smartphones are used frequently for emails, social media, banking, and other things. But what if someone steals your browsing data, credit card details, passwords, and confidential emails? This is a sure-shot possibility and it amplifies when you are using a public WiFi network. The public WiFi service does not have a data encryption technique deployed. If you think your WiFi is well-protected then let me tell you it is not enough. All the VPN services are available for mobile platforms nowadays. You can just browse through their website and select the one which provides maximum security. From a good VPN service, you can expect 256-bit AES encryption, data privacy, a promise for no data leaks, and prevention from various hacking attacks. You can stream YouTube, Netflix, and other websites using a Virtual Private Network if it is blocked in your geographical location.

Can the VPN Server’s ISP track my Activity?

Users might get worried about this question. The ISP delivering the internet to your VPN service can see your activity when you are online on the VPN. But VPNs have three safeguard solutions for the users:

No-logs policy – The VPN services keep no logs on who you (user) are. As the ISPs can monitor your activities, they will not be able to identify who you are. While they may keep the metadata, it does not have any personal information.

Shared IP address – Most VPNs use shared IP addresses for user privacy. The privacy of the user remains intact when a single IP address is used by multiple users across different locations.

Anonymous payment methods – Some VPNs do not collect your name when you are using it for banking purposes. You can just use email/username to sign up and use the payment applications like PayPal.

Disadvantages of using a VPN

The decreased internet speed – A VPN can decrease your internet speed substantially. The connection is encrypted and re-routed through a server; your connection speed will be affected. Most users will not understand the difference but the speed is reduced.

It is not legal everywhere – The VPN services are not legal everywhere on the planet. Some countries want to have full control over internet activities. Because a VPN can bypass this control, governments ban these kinds of activities.

You cannot check how good the encryption is – It is difficult to evaluate the security of your data when using a VPN. For an average user, knowing how good the encryption is not easy.

Selling the user data to third-party applications – The free VPN services sometimes sell your data to third-party applications for advertisements. They can track login time, bandwidth usage, browsing data, etc.

Conclusion

Using a VPN service is helpful but you have to be cautious all the time. You have to check the user reviews for any VPN services before enrolling in it. You can get a paid Virtual Private Network service starting from $10-$12 per month. The free VPN services are known to track your online activity and personal data but some are trust-worthy. You have to check the encryption ratings/reviews of the users when you are looking for a new connection. VPNs provide user anonymity, data encryption, no tracking, and secure browsing.

Review a VPN service completely and roam the realm of the internet freely.