Are VPNs Worth It And Should You Pay For It
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Some of us will say that using a VPN is a must. Others couldn’t care less about owning one. But no matter what group a person belongs to, one thing everyone will agree on is that our online privacy is disappearing at a rapid pace.
From any number of scammers, thieves, and scammers to your favorite Internet Service Provider (ISP) and search engine, everyone is searching for your private data and habits on the Internet. Believe it or not, you are worth a lot of money.
This is where VPNs enter the picture. In theory, they’re supposed to keep us anonymous and secure online, specifically preventing this kind of data hijacking and profiling. But, is getting a VPN worth it and is it the magic bullet that everyone claims to be? And assuming it is, why not just look for a free solution instead of opting for a so-called premium service provider?
What is a VPN?
Let’s step back for a second to understand what we’re really talking about here.
A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is a service that creates an encrypted connection (called a tunnel) between your device and a VPN server. Each provider will have dozens, if not hundreds, of these servers located in many different locations around the world.
Connecting to a VPN does three main things:
The combination of these three things allows you to stay anonymous online, keeps your activities private, and prevents anyone from tracking you.
When using a VPN, you can also prevent your ISP from throttling your internet, as well as side censoring the internet and viewing geo-restricted content (as long as you choose a server located in a country where this content is available).
Is using a VPN necessary?
Whether you should use a VPN is really the million dollar questions (or at least the $3 per month subscription cost question).
Unfortunately, there is no clear, subjective answer. It all depends on what you do online and how comfortable you are with giving up varying degrees of your privacy.
There are certainly many good reasons to use a VPN. And many of these apply even to the most ordinary Internet users. You may want to use a VPN to:
In fact, there are not many things that we do online that cannot take advantage of the additional security and anonymity that a VPN provides. Using one is far from an absolute necessity, but it’s definitely not a bad idea.
Is a VPN Worth Paying?
If there are obvious reasons why you need to use a VPN, or if you are just security savvy like me, then yes, a VPN is well worth paying for.
With so many providers to choose from, each of us should be able to find a provider with all the features we care about at a price we’re willing to pay. After all, even some of the best VPNs available cost no more than a few dollars per month.
Yes, there are free solutions. But, as we will soon see if you choose a free VPN, it is almost better not to use one at all.
In an internet world that thrives on buying and selling your user data, a free VPN does little for you at a potentially high cost.
Should you be using a free VPN?
In addition to the many paid VPN options available, there are also a number of free VPN services.
Many people are drawn to free providers, often using the argument that they don’t use a VPN often enough to warrant paying for one. But, as with most things in life, you get what you pay (or in this case you don’t pay) for. Consider it a common myth that free providers are as good as paid ones.
Free VPN services are usually only free of direct fees, but they are not charities. This means that they have to find ways other than subscriptions to pay for infrastructure and operations and, ideally, make a profit.
In many cases, free VPNs make money by collecting and selling your data, which is something many of us try to avoid by using a VPN in the first place.
It is also not uncommon to see browser ad injections, while some free providers go further and create pop-ups or open annoying browser windows filled with ads in the background.
In my experience, free services also tend to suffer from performance issues. They simply do not have the same level of capital to invest in their infrastructure as the payment providers.
This can make using a free VPN difficult even for your normal browsing activities, not to mention video streaming or file downloads.
Basically, compared to paid services, free VPNs are not that important.
What Features to Expect from a Premium VPN
As I mentioned earlier, there is no shortage of paid VPN services in the market. For the most part, this is great news for us consumers.
All premium service providers tend to keep some in check, knowing full well that they must offer the best possible product or quickly find themselves losing customers for another service.
They also all compete with each other on price.
The downside to the selection is that there is a lot of it. With so many options available, it is not always easier to choose one provider without at least having a previous reference point to compare with.
With that said, there are several features that every premium VPN provider should offer that are worth the money:
Depending on your specific needs, you will also likely need to dig a little deeper than this list.
If all you care about, for example, is securing your computer, then a good Windows VPN is probably what you should invest in. On the other hand, if you are interested in keeping up with the latest in British TV, only the best UK VPNs will do so.
Although there is some overlap, there is unfortunately no single provider that will be everything for everyone. But, any highly ranked VPN will give you what you pay for, and it’s worth more than a little (in the grand scheme of things).
bottom line
VPNs are a very popular, effective and useful way to become anonymous and restore your privacy on the Internet. They provide cheap and flexible protection no matter where you are, at home, in the office, or on the road. It also allows you to access online services that you would not be able to use otherwise.
Which provider you might want to deal with ultimately depends on your needs and preferences, but getting a VPN is worth it. In the end, you have a lot to gain and little to lose.
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