TECH

VPN: The 7 best
In recent times, VPN services have made giant leaps in growing from niche online products hidden away in the dark corner of the internet to almost must-have services for anyone with an internet connected device. VPN is very much in the mainstream now and luckily that broadened appeal has wonders for the usability of the services themselves - there are some brilliant options available in 2019.
What's more, there's so much competition out there that VPN prices have also reduced the products themselves have been enhanced. In short, there's never been a better time to get started with VPN!
On this page we are going to walk you through all the best VPN options out there no matter what device you want to use. And we'll also touch on some of the basics in terms of what VPN even is, who you might want to sign up for and what you might use it for.

ExpressVPN https://www.linkev.com/t3?offer=3monthsfree&data1=t3-1212720511818824257&a_fid=744 has 148 locations in 94 different countries which means you can dial your IP address into 148 locations around the world. ExpressVPN delivers great performance - and it's put the effort into its software too, with dedicated apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and BlackBerry as well as Smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV Sticks, Apple TV, PS4 and Xbox and even your router. Not only that but there are solid tutorials too, so even if VPNs are dark magic to you they'll have you up and running in no time. P2P is fully supported and it's super fast so you can torrent using the maximum bandwidth of your broadband connection and there's a kill switch that keeps your IP address hidden if anything goes wrong with the VPN or with your internet connection. ExpressVPN is reasonably priced, delivers good service and has support for three simultaneous connections. There's no free trial available but there is no 30-day money back guarantee if the service does not meet your requirements so that's a good way to test it out if you're unsure. We have used the 24/7 customer service to number of times and can vouch for its effectiveness - we had a couple of issues with the service on a PC and were able to sort it out within a few minutes using the instant online chat support. IPVanish https://www.ipvanish.com/?data1=t3-1024175160811582666&a_aid=t2a9&chan=i1d is one of the most recognizable names among all the VPN services out there. They have been going for years and if you have read about VPNs in the past you've probably seen some of their ads! IPVanish is certainly not going after the budget market here but it's still a bit cheaper than ExpressVPN. Like Express, IPVanish does not offer free trial (although there is a seven day money back guarantee if the service does not live up to your expectations). It promises to be the world's fastest VPN, with more than 40,000 IP addresses, 850 servers in 60 countries, unlimited peer to peer sharing and up to five simultaneous connections. That's certainly a bonus over ExpressVPN which only offers three connections at a time - IPVanish could be the best option for you if you want to get the whole family on one plan, for example. There's no logging policy, too, which means the service is not gathering stacks of data about what you're doing. Switzerland is famed for its privacy-friendly legislation, and that's where VyprVPNhttps://www.goldenfrog.com/vyprvpn/buy-vpn/referral?offer_id=133&aff_sub=t3-1327971570408192793&aff_id=3380&processed=1 operates from - although its servers operate in 72 other countries to deliver unlimited data. If you're used to VPN services you're definitely killing your data speeds you'll be positively surprised by VyprVPN: we found that our data speeds actually increased when we enabled the VPN! Not only that, but there are plenty of useful options including auto-connect, kill-switch and enhanced security via the proprietary Chameleon protocol and its own DNS. VyprVPN has a free trial too so you can try it and see what you think before you commit!
Central America is not the first place you'd think of when it comes to cutting edge technology, but NordVPN http://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=18&aff_id=3013&url_id=625&aff_sub=t3bestvpn is up with the best VPN services in 2019. It has 1015 servers in 59 countries, supports up to six devices simultaneously, runs 2048-bit encryption and has a feature list including an automatic kill switch, dedicated IP addresses, strong DNS leak protection and the ability to pay in Bitcoin. For relatively short connections performance was superb, although we did notice a little latency creeping in from time to time for very long distance connections. However, browsing remained snappy and performance was not significantly degraded. We'd recommend hunting the site for its free trial and if you like it, sign up for the 3-year plan which is currently going for just $ 99. TunnelBear http://click.tunnelbear.com/aff_c?offer_id=46&aff_id=2940 is designed for a very specific group of people: people who want a VPN service but do not want to mess around with configuration or become IT experts to make their connections more secure. And it caters brilliantly for that market, with a very straightforward interface and jargon-free writing. In truth, all of the VPN services these days do this but TunnelBear tries very hard to stand out. It is not for power users - there is not much you can change - but with up to five simultaneous connections, servers across 20 countries and decent performance on US and Canadian websites. Longer connections can be slower, though: it's when the relatively small number of server locations makes it obvious. There is a free version that limits you to 500MB of monthly traffic, and if you pay annually the price of the full version drops from $ 9.99 to $ 4.99 per month.
Windscribe https://windscribe.com/upgrade?promo=WS50OFF&afftag=t3-1647196749531421843&affid=fghzq9e1 offers unlimited device connections. Yes you heard that right! The reason is that unlike the others above on this list, it does not offer unlimited data. So you're limited by bandwidth and data, not by devices. You get 10GB every month, and there's a free plan that only allows one device. There are apps for Windows, Mac and iOS but not Android, and the service also offers browser add-ons with useful features such as ad-blocking. Short range performance (to US sites) is good, but we noticed lag with transatlantic connections. However, if you're looking to protect the data from a whole bunch of devices - an office, perhaps, or just a smart home - the support for unlimited connections is a real stand-out feature.
How much should a VPN cost? Hotspot Shield http://hsselite.7eer.net/c/356741/476997/1691 can be as little as £ 119.99 for a lifetime or £ 5.99 a month if you'd rather sign up for a year. For your money you get a decent range of features including up to five devices, private browsing, virtual locations and good if not stellar performance: we did notice a slight increase in latency when Hotspot Shield was enabled, although it was not too dramatic. There's a seven-day trial that gives you more than enough time to put it through its paces. J. Rivington