How to become anonymous, secure your data, go to an inaccessible site and not spend a penny.
Virtual Private Network means 'virtual private network' in English. This is a generalized name for the technology of creating a virtual network on top of a real one. Most often, a VPN is a node between the user and the Internet, through which all traffic passes and is encrypted. This is what we need.
VPN helps you create an extra layer of data protection, hide your real IP address, or virtually change your location to bypass regional service blocking. So you can protect yourself using Wi-Fi in a cafe, become anonymous on the Internet or pretend to be a user from America.
I do not need to be anonymous on the Internet, and for this it is better to use more serious tools, like the Tor browser. I also try not to use public Wi-Fi. But sometimes you need to buy something in a foreign store or, for example, you want to try the music service Spotify – that's where a VPN comes in handy.
You have to pay for everything
A VPN server with good servers is not just given away. The supplier buys and maintains equipment, pays for electricity, and wants to make money. The price depends on the quality of the equipment, the number of servers and additional services.
But I don't want to pay for the service to use it once a month. Therefore, I will cover free VPN services.
ZenMate
The service provides free unlimited traffic through an extension for Chrome, Opera or Firefox. They provide four servers: in the USA, Romania, Germany and Hong Kong.
There are also apps for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. But to work in them, you will already have to subscribe to a premium subscription: 299 rubles per month or just 2100 per year
But I only use ZenMate through a browser and free servers – that's enough for my purposes. It works stably and simply: when you need to go to an inaccessible site, enable the extension, and that's it, you went to the site from America.
You won't be able to download gigabytes of files, you can access inaccessible sites at a comfortable speed, but not at maximum. Still, the servers are free and unlimited.
If you often need VPN on your computer, ZenMate is a good choice. But to work on smartphones you need to pay, but there is a trial period for 7 days.
Download ZenMate
TunnelBear
This service uses a different distribution scheme. TunnelBear gives free access to servers in 19 countries on any available device, but there is a traffic limit of 1 GB per month. This is enough to periodically visit inaccessible sites, but not enough for permanent use.
If you run out of free traffic, you can invite a friend or write a tweet mentioning @theTunnelBear and get another gigabyte for a month.
Available servers: USA, UK, Canada, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, Spain, Singapore, Norway, Denmark, Hong Kong, Brazil, Mexico, India.
Unlimited traffic for 5 devices costs 599 rubles per month.
TunnelBear can be configured to automatically work on unsecured Wi-Fi networks: in the subway, cafe or office.
TunnelBear is great if you need a cross-platform VPN service with a wide range of countries. But a gigabyte of traffic is only enough for 4-5 sessions.
The service is available for Windows, masOS, iOS and Android, there are extensions for Chrome and Opera.
Download TunnelBear
Opera VPN
Opera offers a small selection of free servers, but unlimited traffic for mobile devices through a separate application or through a browser on a PC. But I only use Opera VPN on my smartphone, on my computer I prefer a different browser.
Opera VPN has a nice and simple application: I opened it, clicked connect and it will select the optimal server by itself. The country can be changed if necessary.
I am glad that you do not need to register for the service to work.
But I do not recommend downloading files via torrents – this is a heavy load on the servers, they can be banned.
The free service affects the quality of the servers – sometimes the speed drops or it is impossible to connect, but this happens rarely. Now developers are trying to monetize the project by advertising in the application, but they do it non-intrusively. No full screen banners.
On Opera smartphones, VPN is perhaps the best option if you don't want to pay money, there are no high requirements for the speed and location of the server, but you need a VPN without traffic restrictions.
They don't even have a paid version, only modestly show ads.
Opera VPN for Android / iOS
These are three free VPN services with their own features and use cases. Somewhere fast servers, but limited traffic; somewhere less speed, but unlimited. In any case, you will have to compromise or take a VPN for money.
Recommend your programs in the comments with good and free VPN servers.