A Virtual Private Network (VPN) Is Not Just Nice to Have, It’s a Must-Have. Here’s Why.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a must-have if you’re interested in, among other things, sharing files anonymously, avoiding censorship and enhancing your privacy. When looking for VPN services, it is important to remember that VPNs vary greatly in the features that they offer and the quality of the services. This article provides some advice on choosing the right VPN.
As the name suggests, the service offered by VPN providers is the creation of a virtual network between two distinct physical networks. This is done with the use of software and hardware at the government or corporate level.
Bridge your networks
The use of a VPN makes it possible for you to work from your home in Chicago, for example, by letting you access your employer’s intranet at their office building in, say, New York. With seamless VPN services, it would feel as if you were right there in the office building accessing your employer’s network.
Similarly, you can use the same technology to bridge your laptop, tablet or phone to your home PC while on the road and access files on your home network.
Ensure security of your data
VPN guides such as fastestvpnguide.com will also advise you that VPN connections are encrypted, effectively preventing prying eyes from accessing your data as it is transferred. This ensures security of your data, especially when using public Wi-Fi networks at locations such as airports or coffee shops. Your credit card details and passwords are therefore safe from theft.
Mask your location
VPNs can make it seem as though your device is accessing the internet from a different location by routing your traffic via a different network. That means your traffic can appear to be originating from a different country or continent. For certain sites, such as Netflix, which restrict access based on your location, VPN is useful.
This feature also lets you work around discriminatory product pricing that may be imposed on you based on your location. These price disparities can be huge. For example, users outside the US have been known to pay more than twice what users in the US pay for a number of online products and services.
Avoid censorship and throttling
One of the biggest concerns for internet users is censorship. In countries such as China, monitoring and censorship is overt, whereas it is covert in the US. The most effective way around all these forms of monitoring and censorship is use of VPNs to completely mask your online identity and location.
The benefits of masking your location are in this case two-fold. You are secure from monitoring by your government as well as your Internet Service Provider (ISP). If your ISP throttles your connection (reducing download and streaming speeds)based on content, a VPN routes all your traffic through an encrypted tunnel, making it impossible for your ISP to isolate specific traffic based on content.
In summary, VPN services are extremely useful. They enable you to secure your data on public Wi-Fi networks, hide your traffic from your government or ISP, and conceal your location from online companies that charge users from your country higher prices or block them altogether.
