A VPN makes a lot of sense these days. The more frequently you work from home and do important things on the go, the more important it is to protect your own data. Fortunately, VPN providers are no longer rare.
But how can you recognize a good provider? Are there fixed
quality criteria and what do the individual services cost?
Seriousness
is the be-all and end-all
The company behind the VPN offer must be reputable. This
can sometimes be seen from several factors:
·
Headquarters -
where is the company located and what law is it subject to? Of course,
European companies are particularly interested in data protection issues, as
data protection is very important in Europe.
·
Limitations -
VPNs have long been notorious for doing something gray or dark online. The
illegal streaming of series or the downloading and swapping of entire albums
and books were always handled via VPN. These activities are inherently
illegal and some VPN providers are taking effective action against them.
·
Transparency -
the cost structure and billing should be absolutely transparent. Every
user has the right to a correctly created invoice and should also request it.
Securing the offer is of course also a point that falls under the
serious behavior of a provider. The customer must be able to rely on being
safe and secure in the network by using the VPN. A good provider can prove
this.
Quality
criteria
The quality of a provider is often noticeable during use. Many
services offer the chance of the trial month, during which weak points can be
identified:
·
Dial-in problems - what about dialing into the VPN? Long
waiting times can indicate that the workload is too high and are usually
accompanied by further difficulties.
·
IP choice - how many and which IPs
does the provider provide? The question is important, because not only are
some online services simply blocked if the wrong IP is used, the speed also
suffers if too many people have to share an IP.
·
Accessibility -
how can the VPN be reached? Of course, it depends on the type of access. If
you want to protect yourself on the go, you usually choose an online-based
variant. Of course, it must always be possible to call this up reliably. Disconnections,
overloads, or crashes are an absolute taboo. This also applies to VPN
routers or special programs on laptops or smartphones. The apps and the
router must not crash.
·
Speed - any VPN will slow down
the internet speed. But
the service itself decides how severe the losses will be. If the server of
the service is also overloaded or its infrastructure is not designed for the
requests, the speed can drop significantly.
Many quality criteria are only to be found out for the individual
and especially for laypeople. It is therefore always worth taking a closer look at the PC magazines. Test reports, comparative reports, and experiences are
published there regularly. It doesn't hurt to use these offers as
an aid.
What does a
good VPN cost?
Prices of VPN offers vary and there are still free VPN services available. The key point is always the extent of use, but the
type of use is also decisive. Some examples:
·
Smarthome - if you want to secure
your smart home elements via a VPN, you need permanent access. The router
solutions are the right choice here. But even with the router, there are
possibilities and differences. There are VPN providers who bring their own
routers onto the market, but also router manufacturers who integrate VPN
solutions. The costs of the router depend largely on its equipment and
scope of services.
·
Company - a company should be secured, but this also covers access for home office employees and
field staff. Perhaps even access to the company server should not be
possible without a VPN. Here, entrepreneurs have to use fixed solutions
that can be expanded via mobile solutions. Often the individual accesses
have to be activated and of course, purchased.
·
Domestic use -
if, on the other hand, you want to protect yourself when surfing privately and
online on the go, you can in turn fall back on online-based solutions or VPN
programs. The web solutions are cheaper, the programs also require
installation.
A clear price range cannot be given due to the different solutions
and systems. Of course, the VPN network for companies is significantly
more expensive than using a VPN at home. The permanent availability of the
VPN for smart home solutions is also more expensive, especially because the
routers have to be purchased or rented permanently.
For this reason, the transparency of the billing is very
important. There are still solutions today in which the user decides how
expensive the VPN is about how long he will be using the VPN. This variant
can be compared a little with the previous modem use. Other services offer
flat rates. The user pays a fixed monthly amount but can use the
web-based VPN as much as he wants.
If you want a program solution, you usually have to purchase the
program including the license. It works like virus protection solutions. Of
course, additional costs arise if several devices are to be merged under this
license. However, this is particularly necessary with VPN, after all, the
service should not only protect the home PC but also protect the smartphone on
the go. Two licenses are therefore almost always necessary, usually even
more.
Conclusion - Also Take a Close Look at The VPN
A VPN is a powerful tool for protecting yourself on the Internet
and your own data. But only high-quality solutions can offer this
protection precisely. After all, the provider must also ensure that he is
not using the data to be protected himself. For this reason, users should
not rely solely on the price, but on the benefit and quality of the provider. Test
and comparison reports help, but dealing with the question of how the VPN is
used is also important. Entrepreneurs have different requirements than private
Internet users, whereas smart homeowners also want their homes to be
additionally protected. This requires a wide range of costs, which is so
well diversified today that practically anyone who wants it can also insure
themselves.
Learn more about the best antivirus.
Comments
Post a Comment