Internet is part of our day to day. We use it to work, communicate, find information, make purchases or for simple training.
But along with the internet, the risk of falling into a scam, suffering the theft of documents in our network or censorship by authorities and governments that restrict the content that we can access through the web has also grown.
Due to this, in recent years the use of UK VPN online has become popular , which, although originally designed for the business environment, today are offered in the same way for small and medium-sized companies , or even for home users .
What is a VPN?
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network (Virtual Private Networks, in English). Basically it is a connection that allows you to link a computer or mobile device with a private network to use it as a bridge to the Internet and not establish a direct connection. In this way, many benefits of security and efficiency are obtained in the connection and use of the Internet in all its aspects.
Why do I need a VPN?
Using a VPN is great for many businesses, but if we’re talking about the home user again, then why do I need a VPN?
The advantages of using a Virtual Private Network are:
- Security:All traffic goes through a virtual tunnel that encodes information from its origin to its destination, avoiding data theft.
- Anonymity:All our internet connections will be hidden behind the server address that the VPN offers us; In other words, if our VPN service is located in Morocco, for example, no one will know that we are actually located in the United States or whatever our origin.
- Privacy:Our internet service provider (ISP) will never know what we are using the contracted service for or what sites we are accessing , since in the network registry it will only appear that we are connecting to a single address, our VPN provider.
- Total access to content: Regardless of whether it is a censorship in our workplace or in the entire country, we can alwaysaccess any service we need through our virtual tunnel.
- Remote connection:Especially advantageous for those who travel a lot and need to connect to the network of their workplace.
What protocols do VPNs use?
We mentioned earlier that security is one of the advantages of VPNs. This is achieved thanks to the protocols they use. But what are protocols? They are a series of rules or instructions that allow, in this case, to establish communication between two points.
The most used are the following:
- PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol):Designed with old technology. It allows fast connections, but low security.
- L2TP / IPsec (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol / Internet Protocol Security):Two protocols, which together offer high security. It encrypts and requests credentials from each of the packets that are sent end-to-end.
- IKEv2 (Internet Key Exchange version 2):Formed by Microsoft and Cisco. Intended for users who can easily lose their connections, like mobile devices.
- OpenVPN:Open source protocol widely used in recent years. It combines some of the best features of the other protocols and can be used from almost any platform.
Is it legal to use a VPN?
It is necessary to clarify that using a VPN is completely legal.
If so, why do some internet services or country governments prohibit them? Some content services, such as YouTube, Netflix or Hulu, to mention just two, have a commercial strategy based on the geographical segmentation of the market. Thus, what is possible to see in the United States may not be possible to see in other countries.
But when we talk about the restrictions imposed by the governments of some countries, things change. The illegal thing is not the use of a VPN, but the location of the server or the destination network. Typically, if a country restricts connections to certain services that come from abroad, then using a VPN to access that content is likely to be illegal as well.
These regulations obey national security issues; for this reason, we always recommend looking for the regulatory laws in force in each country on the use of VPNs.
The countries that currently restrict the content of internet or using a VPN point to abroad be: Turkey, UAE, Oman, China, Belarus, Russia, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Iran and Iraq.
Free vs Paid
It seems that the option of a free VPN service would be a good enough thing, but in reality, free VPN services offer a lot of anonymity flaws and stability problems.
With a free service, VPN providers will display a host of really important features restricted until you pay, while adding advertising to your browsing experience all the time.
Comparing this to a paid VPN service, which will offer all the premium features, along with technical support, without ads and without logging, it is clear to see that a paid VPN is something much more effective, even if it comes at an initial cost.
How do you get a VPN and which one should you choose?
Hiring a VPN service is very easy. You just need to define your needs.
Will you use it at your local office to connect to a remote office? Do you want to use it on your mobile device to access multimedia content restricted in your geographical area?
There are many options available on the market. To help you choose the right one for you, you need to read the reviews available on our website and choose the one that you like the most.
Too many options and little time to decide? Below you can read about the best VPNs at your fingertips:
Conclusion
Modern internet browsing has been subject to excessive restrictions and controls. Luckily the technology based on VPN services offers the best alternative to all users to regain purity in browsing.
We invite you to live this experience of free and total access to content on the network along with the best level of security and privacy using a first-line virtual private network such as Fastest VPN.
