Why VPNs are Smart Investments
When it comes to VPNs, most people think of the privacy benefits. It’s nice to know that you’re protected from being spied on by hackers or government entities. Nobody wants to broadcast their browsing or download history to the public after all. And VPNs are absolutely great services to that end. What people don’t realize is that using them leads to a lot of other cost saving benefits too. It’s all part of a package that making VPNs a great investment, especially for the cheapest VPN prices. Below are five ways VPNs can really help your bottom line.
Preventing Identity Theft
Most people don’t realize the dangers of public wifi hotspots. They’re one of the easiest routes hackers take to stealing your information. With the right tools, a hacker can hijack your personal details such as home address, birth dates, passwords, credit cards, bank accounts, and social security numbers. Basically anything that you type or have typed on your computer is at risk. Obviously public wifi is very convenient though, and people who work from coffee shops or libraries may find it difficult to live without. Even using the internet from a secured network at home brings it’s own risks as you are constantly broadcasting your public IP. While this doesn’t present a risk of exposing more personal details like with a wifi hotspot, it is something that can be very damaging if you visit the wrong site.
VPNs help in both of the above cases by two mechanisms. The first is that a VPN encrypts all of the data you transmit over the internet. Most VPN services use an AES-256 bit OpenVPN protocol, which most hackers simply aren’t equipped to deal with. Additionally, connecting through another network provides an added layer of privacy to maintain your anonymity. You may not need a VPN for at home use to stay safe, but anyone that ever connects to public wifi hotspots absolutely does. With how expensive identity theft can be, there’s no doubt how smart of an investment a VPN can be for you. We strongly recommend looking at a VPN with automatic wifi connection such as CyberGhost VPN.
Cheaper Airfare and Hotels
Did you know that your airline and hotel prices are influenced by where you’re shopping from? Did you know that sometimes prices inflate after multiple visits from the same IP? Both of these factors are reasons why a VPN is a smart investment for travel goers. Pricing in the travel industry is very complex, and you can take advantage of that by altering your location. It may take some extra effort connecting to different countries all over the world, but it could also mean savings of hundreds of dollars. Frequent travelers will get the best bang of their buck, and should consider something like ExpressVPN with over 1,000 servers in 94 different countries.
Unblock Streaming Content
If you’ve ever tried to watch an international sports game or a regional Netflix/Hulu show, you’ll know how frustrating blocked content is. One of the more common uses for VPNs is to bypass these blocks. This means savings from having to purchase events that you would otherwise have access to if you lived elsewhere in the world. It ultimately boils down to more options for how you access streaming content, which will always be cheaper.
Faster Downloads
ISPs like Comcast have been accused time and time again of throttling their users’ internet speeds. They’ll restrict frequently used services such as P2P downloads or streaming Netflix so that they give you less data. Of course, they also a handy solution to this – pay them more money. Instead of giving an ISP like Comcast an extra $40 a month, you could see the same performance increases with a VPN that costs $40 per year. IPVanish is smart choice here as its one of the fastest VPNs around (meaning there’s minimal interference against your regular bandwidth). VPNs won’t increase download speeds just by themselves. However, if you feel like your local ISP is throttling your internet below your paid for speeds then a VPN is a very smart investment to make.
P2P Torrenting
One of the biggest reasons people use torrent is to download digital goods they don’t own. We can’t condone or encourage that activity – artists and developers deserve that money. In short, pirating copyrighted software, music, and movies is illegal. That doesn’t mean all P2P torrenting uses are illegal though. Unfortunately, even legal file sharing can sometimes by met with scrutiny. In these cases you may not be doing anything wrong, but may need to hire a lawyer to prove it. That’s certainly very expensive. Certain services get around this by guaranteeing they don’t record any logs of your activity. That means whatever server you connect will keep your identity hidden. Even those engaging in legal torrenting might find it’s just smarter to invest in a VPN than risk false allegations. It’s also worth noting that not every VPN allows P2P torrenting. Be sure to review our best VPNs for torrenting if that’s something you want.
Clearly a Smart Investment
With the prepaid plan prices of VPNs ranging anywhere from $2.95 to $5.83 per month, they aren’t especially expensive. And with all of the ways they could save you money or time, it means that buying a VPN is one of the smartest investments you can make.