If you're in the market for a VPN, it can get pretty confusing pretty quickly.
There are tons of options.
So let's lay out what you should look for and our recommendations.
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We'll jump to this time code for just the recommendations.
If you don't know what a VPN is, or why you should use one, we've got videos on that too.
Check them out.
If your concern is privacy and it probably is since the P IP VPN stands for private, you should generally avoid free third party VPN services.
Now why is that?
Running a virtual private network is pricey.
So these free services need to get revenue from somewhere, their money comes from advertising.
So some free VPNs track your activity and use that for targeted ads.
Some of those ads could be malicious so you can risk that, roll your own VPN or pay a small fee.
Now it's time to talk about logs.
I'm not talking about it's big, it's heavy.
It's wood kind of logs.
I'm talking about logs as records being kept of your activity.
A good VPN should not be keeping logs to protect your identity.
It's not a guarantee that you'll be anonymous but it is something You'll also wanna know how cooperative VPN service has been with authorities in the past.
You might also want to opt for a non US based VPN.
Why the Patriot Act?
There's a lot to know about VPN and government interactions.
Check that stuff out at CNET com if you get a chance.
So let's get to the recommendations as selected by the editors of CNET.
We will start with the very well known Nord VPN.
You've probably heard this service on lots of podcasts.
So how is it?
Well, generally it's really, really good.
It allows six simultaneous connections.
It's based in Panama.
It connects to 62 countries and Nord VPN has more than 5200 servers.
So here's why it's not the best right now.
Back in 2019, have a port popped up saying that one of Nord VPN rented servers was accessed without authorization.
That access happened in 2018.
We would have liked it if Nord had disclosed the breach earlier.
On the plus side that breach was limited and no user identifying information was compromised.
That was a good indicator that Nord is not keeping logs.
Let's talk about Surfshark.
This is one fast VPN with speed loss at less than 17% of average internet speeds.
When you use a VPN and your traffic is going all over the world.
It generally slows down your connection speed.
Surf shark also has a few special modes.
If you want to get clever, you can use the camouflage mode.
So your own Internet Service Provider does not know you're using a VPN.
There's multi hop mode, which means your activity is bounced from multiple countries.
Make your trail harder to figure out.
And lastly, there's the no borders mode.
Surf shark says this allows you to successfully use surf shark in restrictive regions.
Just be careful doing any of these three things could be illegal in your country and could result in severe penalties.
Let's talk about our top overall pick and that is ExpressVPN.
Why it's fast and has a proven track record when it comes to privacy.
ExpressVPN has more than 3000 servers located in 94 countries Like surf shark Express VPN is based in the British Virgin Islands.
That's generally considered a privacy friendly country because of its lack of surveillance sharing agreements with other countries.
In 2019 Express was a speed demon Of last being at only 2%.
In 2020 that ballooned up to 52%.
During our testing ExpressVPN told us that quote, we think one possible explanation is that there was network saturation between your ISP and.
And our data center during the time period that you tested which again should not be a typical result read that to mean that speed may vary depending on conditions.
Anyway express vpn also takes Bitcoin as payment.
That's always good if you're trying not to be traced If you're thinking about using other VPN services, check out cnet.com.
For more information on my as actor, you're my favorite audience and I'll see you online.
