How To Select A VPN Provider

So you’ve decided to use a VPN to enhance your online privacy and security. But looking around at the VPN landscape, it can be quite overwhelming to know which VPN provider to choose or go with, given how many there are out there.

What do you need to look for? Certainly, the added cost of using a paid VPN provider comes into play, but cost isn’t the most important thing to consider, believe it or not. What we’ll try to do here is to shine some light on many of the more daunting aspects involved in selecting a VPN provider.

By the time you’re considering using a VPN, you should already have an idea of how VPNs work. If you don’t know this information already, you’re (in essence) putting the cart in front of the horse. In that case, you need to undertake a little self-education, and that is way beyond the scope of this article. There are plenty of articles in a wide assortment of media outlets that already do an excellent job of explaining how a VPN works.

In the interest of full transparency, I have been a regular user of a VPN provider for over the past eight years. I use Private Internet Access (a.k.a. PIA), but in no way should that be construed as an endorsement of just them. For me, they just “checked all the boxes” for what I was looking for in a VPN provider. I urge you to do your own research, and come to your own conclusions about which VPN provider best serves your needs.

Most Important: Log Policy

You will want to choose a VPN provider that does NOT keep user logs. Those user logs could contain your originating IP address, who you connect to with your VPN, your location, and a whole host of other revealing information that infringes on your privacy. And, we’re not even talking about whether you’re doing illegal or questionable actions while online.

Even if you’re not doing anything illegal or questionable, the “no logs” policy of your VPN provider protects you from unreasonable searches or suspicions by authorities. I do not subscribe to the “I’ve-done-nothing-wrong-so-I-have-nothing-to-worry-about” school of thought. Instead, I have a reasonable expectation of privacy regarding what I do, where I go, and who I interact with in my “online travels.”

Of course, if your chosen VPN provider keeps no logs, there’s nothing to share or turn over when the “authorities” come knocking. Even better yet are VPN providers who operate RAM-only VPN servers. That means that NO data is saved to a hard drive, ever, for any reason. Most reputable top-tier VPN providers have a “no logs” policy. If the VPN provider you’re considering signing up with doesn’t, keep looking for one that does.

Keep in mind that nearly all of the “free” VPN providers (they are out there) DO keep logs, so your information is readily available to the authorities for the asking. While it may seem a bit trite and worn out, the old adage “you get what you pay for” is apropos in describing the “free VPN providers.”

VPN Provider Costs

The next thing to wonder/worry about is the costs associated with a top-tier VPN provider. It’s important to remember that the longer term you sign up and pay for with a top-tier VPN provider, the cheaper the “per-month” cost will be.

Let’s look at NordVPN as an example. For a one-month price for NordVPN, expect to pay $13.99 (prices current at the time that this article was written). But, if you switch to a 2-year plan (and they provide three free extra months when you select the 2-year plan), that price is $107.33, which comes out to $3.99 per month. Similarly, PIA (the VPN provider I use) charges $11.95 on a month-to-month plan, but also offers a three-year plan. Under that three-year plan, you get 40 months (three years plus 4 extra “free” months) for $79. That brings the price to only $1.98 per month. Most of the top-tier VPN providers offer incentives like this for paying for an extended service plan.

Encryption

One of the key features about using a VPN is that the data from your computer to your VPN provider’s server(s) is encrypted. Your ISP can see traffic, but (thanks to the encryption) they cannot see what you are doing. There is a use case where this is not the case (DNS leaks), but even that is easy enough to eliminate. I discuss this problem fully in my companion article elsewhere in this issue about how to set up your VPN servers in NetworkManager, so I refer you to that particular article, rather than rehashing it all again here.

During most of the time I’ve spent with PIA, I’ve used their OpenVPN files to connect. For a brief period when I first signed up with them, I used their dedicated app to connect to their VPN service. But, I find that the OpenVPN files provided just as much protection as their dedicated app did. Keep in mind that you may not be able to “find” the OpenVPN files to download until you log into the VPN provider’s website, and logins are restricted to paying customers.

When selecting your encryption level, I would recommend using the strongest encryption available (or that you can use). For example, PIA has two sets of OpenVPN files (via TCP) to choose from. The first one uses 128-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption, while the TCP (Strong) OpenVPN files use 256-bit AES encryption. Do you want to guess which one I use? AES encryption is recognized as the worldwide standard for solid cybersecurity, and you'll frequently see it described by VPN providers as being “military-grade.”

When you connect to a VPN server, two things happen: the VPN encrypts your connection and reroutes your traffic through a server in its network. This hides your real IP address behind one from whichever location you’re connected to. All your traffic passes through the VPN server before reaching the website you’re visiting. This means the website can only see the new VPN server’s IP address, not your actual IP address. Since your traffic is encrypted, outsiders can’t snoop on your activity either. This is why VPN servers are so unique. They change your location, but they also secure your activity.

Where Is Your VPN Provider Located?

Where your VPN provider is located can be an important consideration. You can expect to have greater privacy and security when your VPN provider is located/based in a country outside of the “Five Eyes” countries. The Five Eyes countries are Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This alliance focuses on intelligence sharing and cooperation, particularly in signals intelligence.

For example, NordVPN is based in Panama, which is known as one of the “privacy haven nations.” ExpressVPN is based in the British Virgin Islands (another “privacy haven” nation). Malaysia is another “privacy haven” nation.

Even though PIA is based in the U.S., their “no-logs” policy leaves nothing to hand over to law enforcement authorities, which makes their physical location inconsequential.

Since I’m a PIA user, I’ll keep referring back to them because that’s what I’m most familiar with. PIA has servers located in all 50 states in the U.S., as well as many, many other countries across the globe. Some countries, like Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and Germany have multiple servers available. PIA has servers located in 91 different countries. And even though I haven’t “updated” my PIA OpenVPN files in quite some time, I have a hundred different servers listed in my “collection” of OpenVPN files, located in countries all over the world. Some VPN providers boast about having something like 2,000 servers. Just keep in mind that it costs money to keep all of those servers online, updated, and running, so that cost burden may be reflected in the price you have to pay.

Does The VPN Provider Suit Your Use?

On its face, this question sounds a bit odd. But let’s look at this objectively.

Some sites don’t like for you to connect to them while using a VPN. As such, they’ll often display an error when you attempt to connect to them while you’re connected to your VPN. Netflix is notorious for this, as are other sites like Amazon Prime, Disney+, and BBC iPlayer. Many of the top-tier VPN providers have unlocked access to streaming from popular sites. If your need includes streaming from popular streaming sites, you’ll most likely want to restrict your search to those top-tier VPN providers who have unlocked access to the most popular streaming sites.

Keep in mind that there are other sites that absolutely will not allow you to connect with your VPN turned on. If you encounter such a site, you might want to try connecting to a different server from your VPN. There’s a high likelihood that one server from your VPN provider is blocked, while another server works just fine. There are no guarantees. Some sites simply will not allow a VPN connection, regardless of which server you are using. Expect your results to vary as widely as there are sites disallowing VPN connections. Essentially, it’s a crap-shoot as to whether you can circumvent their blocking of VPN connections.

Let’s say you live in Denver, CO, and you go on a business trip to Paris. While staying in your hotel, you decide that you want to watch your favorite Netflix show. However, that show is not available in Europe on Netflix. Using your VPN, you can connect to a VPN server in the U.S., enabling you to watch your Netflix show from your Paris hotel room.

It’s also good to consider the connection speeds of the VPN you’re using. All of the top-tier VPN providers can accommodate the bandwidth demands that streaming services place on them. Other VPN providers, especially the “free” VPN providers, often don’t have the necessary bandwidth to stream content from streaming service providers.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, using a quality VPN provider will help safeguard your data and privacy. In today’s surveillance-fueled world that’s looking to amass as much of your personal and private information as possible, that’s definitely a good thing.

Be sure to do your own research to make sure that the VPN provider you choose will fulfill your needs. I’m not much of a user of streaming services (despite having access to a handful of them, and none of them are Netflix), but every user has different needs. Streaming is not one of my use cases, generally.

While I'm aware of the VPN services offered and built into many of the more popular browsers, those VPN services will ONLY protect you while using that particular browser. If you download torrents, use a messaging program/app, or do anything else online that doesn't require a browser, those browser-specific VPNs WILL NOT protect any data not viewed inside that web browser. So, for me, they are of very limited benefit or use. While it may be better than nothing, it's not much better than “nothing.”

As I’ve mentioned previously in other articles, I use my VPN to provide a greater sense of privacy and to safeguard my data. Like I’ve said before, when I send a snail mail letter, I have a reasonable expectation that the letter will remain private between me and the intended recipient. I don’t think it’s at all unreasonable to expect a similar level of privacy in my online activities.

My use of a VPN aids in that protection of my data and privacy.