You may have heard of VPN and if not, you should definitely read on. Because even if you don’t regularly download movies or music, a VPN can be important to you. We answer the ten most important questions about VPN.
What is VPN?
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and can be seen as a private network within a larger network. Usually this is an encrypted connection between two other networks via public networks (internet). Think of your home network and your employer’s business network. VPN helps you create some kind of private tunnel or pipeline between those two networks.
Why should you use a VPN?
Big advantage of VPN: no snoopers. Because the connection is encrypted, someone who also has access to the same network cannot eavesdrop on your VPN connection. Think of a hotel, train, restaurant or any other place with open WiFi. Thanks to VPN, sniffers (eavesdroppers) do not see any meaningful information. Very nice if you arrange your banking or other private matters.
When should you use a VPN?
Traditionally, VPN has been used in corporate environments to allow employees around the world to access the corporate network. In recent months / years, VPN has also become interesting for private individuals. Especially where the government and other services are increasingly watching what you are doing on the internet. In addition, certain services cannot easily block you if you come from a certain (for them unwanted) country, because with a VPN service you can make it seem that you are from another (desired) country.
Am I really anonymous with VPN?
No, you are never really anonymous on the internet. Your internet provider knows who you are contacting, for example your VPN service. Your VPN service knows what you are doing, but normally does not keep any logs of it. Yet only someone has to place a tap and you are seen. Fortunately, this is not possible just like that, it is not easy even for a government, secret service or other malicious person.
Which VPN protocol can I use best?
The most commonly used protocols are PPTP, L2TP / IPsec and OpenVPN. Most VPN services and VPN software support these three protocols. PPTP is the least secure and relatively easy to crack. So don’t use! The best and fastest is OpenVPN, but not every device supports it. If you can’t get OpenVPN to work, choose L2TP / IPsec.
At home or outside?
Do you especially want to prevent that nobody can see your internet use when you are on the road? Then you can easily set up a VPN connection with your home network. This can be done via your router or NAS, or via a computer at home that you always leave it on. With this, all internet traffic on your smartphone runs via your internet connection at home and you can safely go ahead on public WiFi networks. Make sure you have a fast internet connection at home, preferably via cable or fiber. If you also want to prevent people from knowing what you are doing online at home, use a VPN service.
A paid or free VPN?
Free VPN services have limitations on speed, amount of data, number of connections or a combination of these. If you only want to safely check your email on your smartphone or tablet when you are not at home, then offers TunnelBear a free plan that allows you to use 500 megabytes per month. If you want more, you have to pay.
What are the best VPN services?
We did a comparative test last year, where Expressvpn came out on top. However, the performance of and differences between VPN services are very variable. It is also very dependent on the location, the speed of the internet connection that is used and the computing power of the equipment used. In addition, it is difficult to find out whether the VPN services do not pass on private data. We also have good experiences with VyprVPN, Private Internet Access (PIA) and NordVPN.
How about my speed?
If you use a VPN, it will always be at the expense of your speed. Your request for a particular web page or other internet information no longer goes directly to that web server, but first to the server of your VPN service, then to that web server, back to your VPN service and then back to you. And that goes on continuously. If you have a fast cable or fiber optic connection, you hardly need to notice it. In addition, you have the extra computing power that encryption requires. No problem for a thick PC, but you will notice it on some mobile devices. If you are a gamer, a low ping is very important and the extra steps of a VPN service are not conducive to that. In all cases: first test whether the VPN service is fast enough for you. Many services offer trial packages.
Optionally, you can use the tool below to test your current internet speed:
Are there any alternatives to VPN?
Frequently mentioned alternatives to VPN are Tor and an anonymous proxy. The latter is used to be able to view regional content from, for example, Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer and Uitzending Gemist in a different location. Many anonymous proxies just don’t do anything for your privacy, in fact, they share this information with others. Bee Tor, a network on which you can surf anonymously, your privacy is in principle well organized, but here too there are sometimes ‘infiltrators’ and the speed is often a weak point.
Get started with VPN yourself
VPN obviously has more to offer than offering security on public networks and redirecting your internet traffic. In this article we have provided some insight into the benefits of a VPN, but if you want to know more than you can this free course from Tech Academy.
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