In the present scenario where everyone is running in the race to become tech-savvy, two things worry them: security issues and privacy. Security and privacy have both posed a great threat to their minds. These issues are of major concern, and they have stopped them from adopting modern technology and have caused a problem in surviving in this virtual world demanding smart and tech-savvy citizens.
However, VPNs have solved their problem and have become a more widely used technology in the modern world, which helps both business and private concerns. There are numerous benefits of a VPN to a business or individual.
You might be wondering what a VPN is. Let’s first understand the answer to your question.
What is a VPN?
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a network through which a person can secure access to a public internet connection. VPN offers both privacy and security features. These are the main benefits of a VPN service. It was developed to provide remote users and branches with access to resources. Many corporations use it to protect their data.
VPN hides your IP address and geographical location to keep your online actions secure and hidden in this virtual world. It establishes a secure and encrypted connection using private or public Wi-Fi, mobile hotspots, or broadband.
A VPN helps in sustaining privacy and establishes anonymity. It uses an encrypted tunnel protocol to secure the connection. VPN provides access to blocked websites to prevent geographical barriers by connecting to the servers and hiding a user’s identity and location to sustain anonymity on the internet.
VPN provides subscribers with a spoofed IP address from any city. For instance, you may live in India, but with a Virtual Private Network, you can appear to live in Singapore, the U.S., or any number of gateway cities.
I hope you now understand what a VPN is. Now, let’s learn about VPNs’ benefits and their advantages.
Advantages of VPN
VPNs have two most important benefits: privacy and security.
PRIVACY
VPN enables privacy as it hides your IP address, geographical location, internet search history, and many other things by sustaining anonymity and your identity so that browsers and websites cannot track you and reveal who and where you are.
SECURITY
It is one of the essential benefits a VPN offers. Security is of prime importance for all. A VPN helps to hide and protect your personal or private information, i.e., your sensitive data sent or received by your device.
It offers many more VPN benefits. The advantages of a VPN are as follows-
1. Hide your personal data
A VPN hides your personal information and data. As you all know, applications and websites track your day-to-day online activities and analyze the data collected for different purposes.
So, a VPN helps you and curtails websites from tracking and accessing your data to keep the information you are sending and receiving online safe, secure, and anonymous. It prevents others from accessing your information and may use 128—or 256-bit encryption to secure your data.
Do you want to know what a VPN hides from ISPs, government agencies, hackers, and marketers?
2. No data throttling
Data throttling occurs when your internet service provider intentionally slows down internet speed. It is done to regulate network traffic and maximize optimization.
A VPN can help you escape data throttling, i.e., maximize or increase data speed because you become anonymous to ISPs.
As a result, ISPs don’t place the data cap to slow down your internet speed. Users can get maximum internet speed using a VPN service.
3. Prevent bandwidth throttling
You might have often gone through the issue of having a slow internet connection. You might have noticed slow internet speed and bandwidth throttling on many websites. This happens because ISPs have done it knowingly to regulate the network.
A VPN can be useful as it can prevent someone from being indolent by providing encrypted internet traffic on your device. It also restricts others on the same network from seeing your sent or received data and knowing your location by sustaining anonymity and privacy.
4. Access region-restricted content
A virtual private network helps you access geographically blocked content, e.g., Netflix or other websites. It hides your IP address and geolocation.
Your content provider thinks that you are accessing the content from a different location, and you get access to region-restricted websites.
You should always check and agree to the terms and conditions of the services to get access. Remember that some countries charge penalties for using a VPN when you do not follow and agree to their terms and conditions.
5. Bypass censorship when traveling abroad
VPN helps you to overcome geographical barriers by providing access to certain websites. A few countries don’t allow access to or censor social media content. You can access this content using a VPN because it hides your real location from ISPs.
You should always be alert and tactful that using a VPN is legal for accessing certain restricted websites. You should follow and comply with the VPN’s terms and conditions of service. Before using a VPN, you should also know the country’s laws, rules, and regulations because it is not legal in a few countries.
6. Watch region-blocked sports
One of the benefits of using a VPN is accessing geographically restricted regional sports coverage that is unavailable in your location.
For example, many television networks or websites do not provide access outside a specific country. You can access and view them from your location using a VPN. It helps to make the impossible possible.
Remember to read your video streaming service’s terms and conditions and follow the country’s laws to avoid penalties. Some countries impose penalties or fines for not adhering to the rules of using a VPN.
7. Buying cheap tickets
You can buy cheap flight tickets using a VPN. As you all know, every reservation center and airline operator charges varied prices for different countries.
If you want to get a cheap flight ticket, you need to search for a state with a low cost of living, compare the price of a ticket with your residence, and then connect through a VPN to reduce the cost of tickets.
A VPN’s beneficial feature is its ability to quickly get a cheap ticket. The same applies to other rental services and internet services.
Benefits of a VPN to Businesses
8. Use local broadband as a leased line
A VPN is one of the cheaper leased-line alternatives that can help business concerns save money. For example, many businesses can overcome and boycott, taking costly network connections on a monthly rental to connect different offices situated in different regions.
Using a VPN, they can connect through cheaper broadband or local leased lines with the help of local internet service providers. So, a VPN cuts costs and grants savings.
9. Reduce long-distance phone charges
A VPN generally offers cheap long-distance telephone charges. You can use your local ISP access points to access your company’s intranet instead of remote access servers and a dial-up connection. Cutting rates helps reduce overall expenses.
10. Provide network scalability
A VPN helps provide network scalability, which means that when a business leads to expansion and growth, it needs a secured connection, thereby increasing the cost of building a secured private network connection.
VPNs help businesses opt for existing network lines and capabilities by providing better reach to international locations and servers.
11. Fewer support costs
A VPN helps curtail support costs. Organizations can reduce the cost of server maintenance. A hired third-party service provider can support a lower cost structure, thus lowering expenses. This is all because they have many clients. It will help businesses cut down on support costs.
Apart from these benefits of a VPN, it also has certain disadvantages.
Disadvantages of VPN
Cheap or Free VPN services come with many drawbacks. The disadvantages of using a VPN are as follows:
1. Slow internet speed
Sometimes, you may get slow internet speed while using a VPN because it encrypts and reroutes your internet connection. So, this is one of the VPN drawbacks.
2. Banned in some countries
When using a VPN, you always need to be alert and tactful to check the location’s bylaws, rules, and regulations because its usage is banned and prohibited in some countries. So, don’t forget to check the legislation or be ready to pay the penalty.
3. May be difficult to set up sometimes
VPN setup and establishment are not always easy. Depending on the variability, they aren’t easy to set up sometimes. Always be alert when choosing a newbie to set up a VPN service that does not pose the problem of setting it up.
4. Encryption quality
One of the VPN drawbacks can be its encryption quality. You must be able to identify what kind of encryption your VPN service is using. We recommend opting for a VPN with military-grade encryption (AES 256-bit encryption).
Only it can protect you from hackers and snooping ISPs. Also, your VPN service should not log your online activities. You can read reviews before buying a secure and effective VPN, which helps to get good encryption.
5. Only a paid VPN is better
Many free VPN services are available, but they may not grant complete protection or security. However, using them is not smart because they are free and show unwanted ads.
However, if you choose to use them, your privacy might be at risk. So, the best option is to opt for a paid VPN service to enjoy complete security and protection.
This is why VPN services might not be reasonable for everyone, as they charge a subscription fee per month. The price of a VPN service increases with the quality of service.
There were certain disadvantages a VPN has.
How to Choose a VPN?
It is not complicated to choose a reliable VPN service. Free VPN services don’t offer all the required features to meet customers’ needs. The best and most reliable VPN will depend on your choice and the amount you would likely agree to pay.
As mentioned earlier, free VPNs do not offer complete security and protection. Suppose VPN providers do not charge a subscription fee.
In that case, they may attain costs through advertising or by collecting and selling your private data to third parties, which will lack security and privacy.
You need to use a paid service to fully enjoy the benefits of a VPN. So, choosing a paid VPN and paying a subscription fee is better to ensure your data and information are safe and secure.
Opting for a reliable VPN allows you to add extra privacy to your online tasks. A good VPN should offer a secure connection that will keep your information safe from any other person and cybercriminals who might pose a cyber attack threat.
Choosing a good and reliable VPN is essential if you want to maintain your privacy and security and prevent cyber criminals from tracking or leaking your information.
You can enjoy the numerous benefits of a VPN after choosing a reliable VPN for security and privacy.
Features of a VPN
- VPN offers 128 or 256-bit encryption.
- No logs policy. This feature increases goodwill and loyalty.
- You can use a VPN on more than one machine or device.
- It offers many server locations to choose from, i.e., it offers a wide variety.
- It provides DNS leak protection, which means whenever you lose connection, a reliable VPN helps to make your information safe and secure if your VPN connection drops.
What’s your opinion?
To conclude, I would like to say that a better VPN has ended people’s worries regarding the safety, security, and privacy of information and data.
Many people are finding ways to eliminate being tracked during online activities and tasks. VPN is the best option as it helps to protect your activities from being tracked by cybercriminals and internet service providers.
Going for a paid VPN is always beneficial for good connectivity, speed, safety, and security. A paid VPN provides protection and saves you from cyber-attacks by cybercriminals.
Co-author– Ms. Manpreet Kaur