GUEST POST by SCOTT EDDY: I’d love to tell you that the internet is a safe place. I’d also love to be able to say that free Wi-Fi in public areas isn’t a threat to your online security. But that’s not the reality. Public Wi-Fi is almost like public transportation. It works and it’s budget-friendly, but it is very much out in the open. Public Wi-Fi can also be crowded and slow, and you never know who is watching, especially in airports, airplanes and hotels.
So what can you do to protect yourself, and make sure you have secure access to all the websites you normally use at home?
As you know, I’m on the road all the time. I love it that way. I am also online all the time. Practically my entire life, my business, everything is online. So to protect myself, I’ve started using a VPN.
There are 3 reasons I chose FeatherVPN in particular for travel and working remotely :
- It offers the best security and privacy
- It delivers the fastest performance, without the usual VPN lag that slows your mobile device’s internet connection down
- I’ve had far fewer disruptions to service with this VPN when I’m moving around, which I’m doing constantly.
I’m going to talk more about my reasons in a moment, but some of you may be wondering what a VPN is in the first place.
The Basics of a Virtual Private Network (VPN)
A VPN is a private entrance to the internet. Using a VPN enables your information and data to be encrypted before it travels back and forth between your mobile phone, tablet or laptop, and the sites you visit.
From a user’s perspective, there are two components to a VPN: (1) the app on your mobile device, and (2) the backend VPN service the app connects to, running on a server in one of the VPN provider’s data centers. Once you start using the VPN app on your device, all your traffic flows through the backend service before going to the sites you want to visit.
The IP address that shows up at any website you go to will be the IP address of the VPN provider’s server, not your device’s IP address on the network. This is important because your IP address can be used to track your physical location, and in some cases your identity. Even though the sites you use, login information, your online messages, your location and such are all kept private, many VPNs do keep a log of your online activity as your traffic travels through their servers. That’s why it’s important to check that your VPN provider has a strong no-log policy like the VPN I chose. Then your privacy is fully protected.
Another reason to use a VPN for travel is that some parts of the world restrict your access to the internet. A VPN can help you reach blocked sites you normally visit at home by routing your connection via a server in a different country. Most VPN companies have servers around the world, making it possible to visit sites and services that are blocked in the country you’re currently visiting, which happens often in countries like China. Keep in mind, a very small number of countries block the use of VPNs entirely.
Why is FeatherVPN the Best?
I’m scared to admit, I never realized how exposed I was prior to using them. My social media accounts, banking, business info, have all been at risk – especially when traveling. As I mentioned earlier, I chose FeatherVPN not only for their cutting-edge security and privacy, I also chose FeatherVPN because it’s the only VPN that doesn’t force me to give up performance to get security. If you read the user reviews on FeatherVPN’s Google Play Store listing, you can see that it actually makes your mobile connection many times faster than using no VPN at all!
The Best VPN Security and Privacy
FeatherVPN uses the latest ChaCha20 ciphers to encrypt what you’re sending back and forth over the internet. Totally okay if you don’t know what ciphers are — they are the algorithms or methods used to take your data and change it from letters and numbers into an encrypted, secure format. FeatherVPN backs this up by using TLSv1.3 to ensure that the information coming from your device through FeatherVPN is fully secure and your data and privacy are fully protected. FeatherVPN guarantees your security and privacy even further with its no-log policy.
Some of FeatherVPN’s benefits – from the Google Play Store.
The Best VPN Performance – Faster than using no VPN!
Being safe doesn’t sound as sexy as being fast, and the two don’t normally go together. It’s not surprising that rerouting your connection to other, perhaps distant servers as VPNs do could have a negative impact on your connection speed. That’s why most VPNs greatly increase your latency, and reduce upload and download speeds.
FeatherVPN overcomes the latency other VPNs suffer from because its patented WarpEngine network optimization technology runs on its backend servers. WarpEngine uses a unique approach that accelerates network traffic and responds in real-time to changing network conditions. No other VPN offers this. With FeatherVPN, data transmission speeds for LTE, 5G, and Wi-Fi traffic are typically 2x to more than 10x faster than using no VPN on your device at all. If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know how much I love fast Wi-Fi.
So having fast internet access that’s also secure is music to my ears.
If I’m sitting in a hotel lobby or an airport terminal I want to get stuff done quickly. It can be fun working remotely, but in my case, time really is money, and it can’t take forever to get things sent or downloaded.
Even if you’re traveling for pleasure, speed is important. Think about that time you wanted to change a flight or hotel reservation, and found exactly what you wanted. Then, just when you were ready to book it your connection slowed down, and the seat or suite you wanted was suddenly taken.
Less disruption to service
Let’s go back to the public transportation analogy. Free Wi-Fi and public transportation are similar in that they are fantastic resources enabling more people to get around. But accessibility often sacrifices efficiency. On a bus or subway train, you’re often starting and stopping throughout the journey. Same with public Wi-Fi.
Places like airports and hotels are crowded with Wi-Fi hotspots, LTE and 5G dead zones. Then there’s the constant switching between LTE, 5G and Wi-Fi, and from one Wi-Fi network to another, as you move around. Your connection gets interrupted, and whatever application you were using stalls out. Have you experienced this?
FeatherVPN’s LinkRoaming feature hides these transitions between wireless networks and eliminates performance degradation as it optimizes bandwidth. It’s like always being on the same secure, super-fast network without interruption, even when you’re constantly on the move like I am.
What’s even cooler is this feature called LinkBonding. It binds available mobile and Wi-Fi links together to take advantage of their combined bandwidth for even faster performance.
How to get started with FeatherVPN
FeatherVPN is low-cost, considering what you get. And you can even purchase a one-hour, one-day, or one-week subscription if you’re going on a trip, or just want to try it out. There’s also a free, no-obligation trial of FeatherVPN.
Currently, it’s only available on Android. Select the plan that works best for you and then download and install the App via Google Play. Of course, if you’d like to try before you buy, a free trial of FeatherVPN is also available.
An iOS version is in the works and coming soon.
Yes, I have partnered with FeatherVPN to share this information with you. But even if you decide to go with a different VPN provider the important thing is just using one at all.
Travel is fun, but it is not without its challenges. VPNs can make travel easier, data safer, and ensure you can access what you need no matter where in the world you are.