Are you concerned about online privacy? Want to secure public Wi-Fi connection? Perhaps access content in other countries while traveling or living abroad? These are just a few reasons that personal VPN services have become so popular. There are many layers of security that you should consider and this guide focuses on helping you select the best VPN service. A good VPN provider will help protect all your devices (laptop-PC, MAC, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android, game consoles, etc.) that you use to access the Internet. Between the device and your path to the Internet is where most security breaches or hacking attempts occur.
During their online experience, many users don’t think about who else might be looking at their data or trying to hack the device they’re using to access the Internet. With the growth of free wireless hotspots and other types of free public Internet access, the prevalence of 3rd party snoopers or hackers accessing private data on your laptop or other mobile device has become a very big problem for many users. In the past, hacking took skill and was achievable by only the highly technical or Internet savvy. Now, there are several free hacking programs that allow intruders to see your online footprint such as browsing history, instant messaging conversations and passwords on your email or banking accounts.
With all the different personal VPN providers and plans available, how does one choose the best VPN service for their needs? Then throw in options like VPN server locations, various types of VPN protocols offered, operating system compatibility, etc and you can be left with a very complicated decision. Hopefully our VPN buyer’s Guide will help you determine which criteria is most important to you and make the choice much easier. There are several factors to consider.
Click on any of the links below to jump to that section of the guide.
VPN Buyer’s Guide:
Part 1 – VPN Server Locations – consider which countries you’d like to access VPN servers in. This is especially important for those who travel frequently and others who are focused on avoiding geo restrictions.
Part 2 – VPN Protocols – without boring you with too much technical jargon we’ll explain what terms like OpenVPN, SSL, PPTP, L2TP and SSTP mean and the advantages of each for VPN connections.
Part 3 – VPN Account Types – this is the most important section of the guide. Don’t pay anymore than you need to for VPN access. Here we suggest tips for finding a high quality service at the lowest possible price.
Part 4 – Performance – we focus a lot on the reliability and performance of VPN services. Testing the speed of several top services. You’ll want to do the same. Both be reviewing our results and testing for yourself.
Part 5 – VPN Routers – this is a more advanced section of the manual. Using a router flashed with DD-WRT firmware will allow you to run every connected device through a single VPN account.
