Our lives are hyperconnected, and a VPN is the best tool to ensure that your web traffic isn't monitored by spies, crooks, advertisers, or your ISP. Private Internet Access is among the best VPN services we've tested. It offers a robust collection of features, thousands of available servers, 10 simultaneous connections, all contained in a new, easy-to-use app interface. Longtime users will have noticed, however, that its price has recently made a substantial jump.
What Is a VPN?
When you connect to the internet, you probably assume that your activities aren't being observed. However, that's an unsafe assumption, and it's especially dubious when you connect to the web from Wi-Fi at the coffee shop, the airport, or even at work. When you use a VPN, on the other hand, your traffic is routed through an encrypted tunnel to a server controlled by the VPN provider. Nothing can penetrate a VPN's encrypted tunnel, so no one snooping on your local network (be it at home or at the office) can see what you're up to. It also prevents your ISP from monitoring your activities. Because your data is emanating from the VPN server, and not your home router, your IP address—and therefore your geographic location—is hidden.
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