Virtual Private Networks (VPN) services are being used by millions of people to surf online anonymously, change their current IP, encrypt their Internet communications and increase the size of their bandwidth. This technology has only been around for a little over a decade, but has developed a name for itself as the best way to bypass censoring firewalls, getting around blocking programs and software that limits access to websites to only specific territories.
While many people are using these services, they may not be using one of the top VPN services, because most people select the first VPN they find or use one that is free. The five best providers will cost you something to use, but not as much as it would cost you to have your privacy stolen. After years of research, our team of VPN information technology specialists have found which ones offer the best quality, as well as stable connections. However, you need to understand how we rated each of these top 5 VPN services for their quality.
Protocols of Top VPN Services
Tunneling protocols are the way VPN services encrypt their Internet access options used by their members. A tunneling protocol is an encryption method of securely communicating through the web, like a scrambling device does telephone conversations or radio communications. It mixes up any traffic so it cannot be seen by anyone. However, we looked at how many of these different protocols a VPN service offered and whether the protocols available would get through software used by governments and websites.
Bandwidth of Top VPN Providers
Bandwidth size is what increases or decrease your access speed. During our testing period, we looked at how fast a VPN could upload and download videos, webpages and movies. We only placed in our top VPN list the ones that offered more speed than a normal ISP. When you want to watch a movie streamed to your computer, you do not want to wait for it to download and stop to download more because it runs faster than it is streaming.
IP Addresses and Country Location of Top VPNs
Resarching for our top 5 VPN list required us to look at what IP addresses each provider offered and in which countries these IP addresses were being offered. If the VPN only had a limited number of IP addresses available and only offer services inside a few countries, the service did not make our list. You want as many IP addresses and country locations as possible so you can go on any geographically restricted websites. You also want the ability to switch IP addresses when desired. Our top 5 providers offer hundreds of IP addresses from multiple countries, including Canada, Japan, United States, Germany, United Kingdom and several others.
Cost of Top VPN Services
Every Internet users worries about cost and top VPNs will charge you a subscription fee. We looked at how many subscription options VPN users offered and how much these subscriptions would cost you each month, six months and 12 months. If the cost was too high, we will not recommend the service. But, also, we would not recommend any free sites either because those services are not really free. Our top VPNs must be cost-effective and reasonably priced with more than one payment option available.
Customer Service/Technical Support of Top VPNs
Our staff experts also looked at the quality of the VPN’s customer service, as well as how available the VPN’s technical support was when we needed them. You want to be able to contact your VPN at all hours of the day or night. If the VPN did not offer 24-hour help, the service did not make our top VPN list.
Out of all the quality checking we performed, we concentrated on these options, but also included ease of connection, whether the VPN connected to every OS and how stable the connection was while online. After this thorough study, we are currently recommending these top 5 VPN service providers.
| Rank | Provider Name | Starting Price | Money Back Guarantee |
Visit Provider Site |
 |
ExpressVPN | $6.67/month | 30 Days |  |
| 2 | IPVanish | $10.00/month | 7 Days | |
| 3 | Hidemyass | $11.52/month | 30 Days | |
| 4 | VyprVPN | $10.00/month | 7 Days | |
| 5 | StrongVPN | $21/ 3 months | 7 Days | |
