What is a VPN and do you need one?
5 min read
Between censorship, geo-restrictions and online insecurity, the Virtual Private Network appears as the ideal solution to navigate freely and safely. It is gaining more and more notoriety in countries like China, France, the United States, etc. We will present here the reasons why you need one and the reason you might not need one.
A little reminder: what is a VPN?
Before presenting the advantages and disadvantages of VPN, we will remind what it is. This will allow everyone to be on the same page.
Also called Virtual Private Network, it is a service that allows you to secure your data with an encryption key. This varies from one supplier to another. Most of the time, the best providers use AES encryption in some combination. It’s the same encryption that the military and some governments use.
To benefit from this service, you must either purchase the service or set one up yourself (But we won’t be covering how that is done here). Then you need to download and install the application on your device (Smartphone, tablet or computer). After that, all you have to do is press a button to activate the protection.
This ease of use is already an advantage of the VPN, in addition to the fact that it could not be simpler to install a Virtual Private Network. We will bring more details through the following point.
Why do you need VPN?
Above all, it is its ease of use that makes it so popular in the world. Obviously, this is not its only strong point. We will present the main advantages of VPN in the lines to follow.
Secure your traffic
This is by far the biggest advantage of VPN. Although the Internet is now an essential tool, it still presents some risks. Today, after a few hours in front of a good tutorial on YouTube, anyone can hack your data. If you used to do online transactions, then your bank details will be vulnerable.
With a Virtual Private Network, your traffic will be protected by AES encryption, which means that all the data that will pass through this tunnel will be fully encrypted. There is, therefore, no chance that a third person can access it. By subscribing to the offer of a provider, you can take advantage of this advantage of VPN.
Online anonymity
You are aware that in most developed countries such as France, China or the United States, the government monitors the slightest actions of the citizens. With a Virtual Private Network, you will be able to navigate more freely by becoming anonymous on the Internet. This is one of the great advantages of VPN. You are certainly wondering how this is possible!
After subscribing to a provider, the provider assigns you a new IP address. The latter will hide your real IP address, which will make you completely anonymous on the Internet.
This means that neither the government nor your internet service provider (ISP) will see what you are doing on the web. They will therefore not be able to know if you are downloading via Download Zone. This advantage of a VPN allows you to enjoy 100% of internet services.
Bypass geo-restriction
Another great advantage of VPN is that it gives you the ability to bypass geographic blockages. Indeed, some operators limit the viewing of their content (audio and video) depending on the country. For example, you cannot access your local channels abroad. When you try, geo-restriction automatically blocks your access.
By using a Virtual Private Network, you can change your IP address. Simply connect to a server of your supplier in your country, and voila. From abroad, you can watch all your favourite local channels. You can also take advantage of this advantage of VPN in China.
Indeed, you certainly know that YouTube, Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter… are inaccessible in China. By simulating your location in another country of your choice, you will be able to access all these sites from China. However, you must choose a supplier who does not keep your logs in order to preserve your anonymity. It is also an advantage of VPN.
Download torrents with reduced risk
Most countries prohibit the downloading of non-copyrighted torrents. But as you already know, the second advantage of VPN is to make yourself anonymous online, which means you can no longer be identified.
From then on, you will be able to download torrents with reduced risk. However, make sure that your provider does not keep your connection log (or logs). Also, make sure that the Virtual Private Network has the Kill Switch function. It is also one of the great advantages of VPN. It will preserve your identity in case your connection suddenly stops.
As you can see, the benefits of VPN are many. Obviously, there are others, but we have chosen only the most important. Now we will discuss the disadvantages of this tool( why you don’t need them).
What are the disadvantages of VPN?
There are many providers of this service on the market. However, not all of them provide the same qualities of service. Start already by avoiding free Virtual Private Networks.
Their level of security does not equal that of paid Virtual Private Networks. And even among the latter, we can note some disadvantages of the VPN. For example, you will be unable to bypass some trackers effectively.
When using a Virtual Private Network, your connection speed is reduced. This is the main drawback of VPN. With some providers, latency is not important. The drop in connection is, therefore, not noticeable at all. On the other hand, there are some providers who do not support the P2P protocol.
You will, therefore, not be able to download torrents. We would especially like to draw your attention to the suppliers who have their headquarters in the United States, China or Iran. In these countries, the government requires providers to keep their subscribers’ connection logs, which would directly affect your privacy.
Conclusion
We do not need to prove further why you might need a VPN. It will allow you to become anonymous on the Internet and browse safely.
You will be able to bypass geographic restrictions and access most blocked sites (sites like Netflix can detect some VPNs). However, it also has certain drawbacks such as reduced connection speed and prices which vary significantly from one provider to another.
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