In this era where we depend on technology for almost everything, the significance of a VPN is very important. In order to protect our online identity from hackers, it is pretty important to have a VPN service overlayed on our actual internet connection. Just like anything, there are a lot of myths regarding the VPN services circulating around for a while. Today we are going to talk about such VPN myths and find the truth behind them. Without further due, let’s have a look at them. These are the most common VPN myths.
1. A Free VPN is Enough
There are a lot of free VPN services out there that provide a free VPN connection, especially on mobile devices. If you have ever used such an application that is free, you might have already noticed that there are a lot of limitations on the applications such as the number of locations available. That’s not all. Many of these applications, even after connecting to a VPN server, doesn’t actually protect your Internet.
I am not saying that each and every free VPN out there is like this. But there are free VPN services that simply don’t work. If you search something on Google and scroll down to the bottom where your current location is displayed, you can understand what I am saying. If you are using a good VPN service that actually does what it promises, you will see some location that is not yours. If you are still seeing your exact location even after connecting to a VPN service, it is probably a good time to move away to something else.
So while choosing a VPN service, if they are available for free of cost, make sure that you are really being protected. A premium VPN service will have hundreds of locations available distributed all over the globe. While a free VPN service will provide a small number of busy servers where all these people who signed up for the free service connected to. So if you can afford a premium VPN service, it is always a better option to choose it over a free service.
2. Using a VPN Decrease the Internet Speed
Even though this statement is literally correct, the impact of a good VPN service on your actual connection is extremely insignificant. Like I mentioned in the previous section if you have signed up for a free VPN service where hundreds of users simultaneously connected to a single VPN server, you might actually see a significant drop in your Internet connection speed. But if you are using a premium VPN service that has several servers all over the globe, there will be a limit to how many people can be connected to a single server at a time.
This will ensure that the server can manage all the traffic coming into it. So your actual Internet connection speed will remain untouched. Based on your location and the connection, you may experience a slight reduction in the speed which is acceptable considering that the connection has to go through the VPN server in order to protect you.
3. VPN is only for Tech Savvies
It is true that someone related to technology will spend more time on the Internet than a regular person. But the VPN services are not specifically made for any tech guru. The whole idea of the VPN is to protect online activities by encrypting the connection between your device and the origin server that you are interacting with. So a VPN service is not just for any specific kind of people. There won’t be any problems if you do not use a VPN. But using one will definitely improve the security of your files and interactions online.
You do not have to be a tech expert to use VPN. Most of the VPN services come with a user-friendly interface with a simple button to connect to any location provided. All you have to do is selecting the preferred location that you want to connect to and press the connect button. As soon as you press the button, your connection will be protected by the VPN server that you are connected to. Read our article on why you should use a VPN to understand more.
4. VPN is the Ultimate Protection
If you think that using a VPN is enough to protect your online identity and secure your device completely, that is not true. There is no tool invented yet that can provide you 10)% security from anything. That being said, a good VPN makes it extremely hard for a hacker or anyone who tries to steal your information to get into your network. Using a VPN service in combination with the recommended tools such as antivirus software or Internet security will prevent most of the security threats. So VPN is an extremely good tool for online security, but it is not the ultimate solution for everything.
5. VPNs and Proxies are the same
One of the common misconceptions is that VPNs and proxies are the same. They are completely different things. A proxy will only hide your IP address and will not encrypt any of your data. On the other hand, a VPN service will not only hide your real IP address but will also make sure that all your data is encrypted. Apart from that, using free proxy services is probably a bad idea as most of these free proxies are controlled by someone. So as soon as you connect to those free proxy services, they can do a lot of damage if they really want to. So do not get confused with these two terms.
6. Using a VPN is Illegal
As long as you’re not using VPN services for doing any illegal activities that are banned in your country, or any other shady stuff, you are good to go. Unless the use of a VPN is specifically forbidden by the law like in China, the use of a VPN is not illegal. Just to do a Google search regarding the VPN laws in your country. You will find an answer. VPN is something created to protect the Internet connection of the user. So using it for what it was intended to use for won’t cause any problems.
7. VPN doesn’t Log Anything
Most of the VPN services including the popular names in the industry keeps a log of your information. Even though they are advertised as no-log VPN services, they still store your information for a specific period of time, or at least “they can if they want to.” There have been reports that the VPN services are logging your activities including your browsing history, cookies, and other things while you are connected. Making use of a good VPN service might help you to avoid such privacy issues. But still, be aware of that.
