Every day our smartphones suffer attacks, viruses, malware and information theft. In this article you will be able to deduce if you need a VPN on your mobile to safely navigate the Internet, to avoid possible attacks on public Wi-Fi networks and also to filter advertising and malware in general that we can find when browsing Internet with him. Here we will explain what it is for, its advantages and disadvantages. We will also recommend some quality VPN services that we have tested in this article in case you see it necessary.
The evolution in the way we connect to the internet
In recent years, the way we connect to the Internet has changed a lot. Until not long ago, we used mainly desktop computers such as PC or Mac and in certain cases, a laptop. However, this last decade, things have changed a lot and mobile phones have gained great prominence.
In our day to day, we are increasingly connected to the network and we use more devices. In addition, in some cases the use of computers has taken a bit of a backseat. Sometimes it is more convenient to use the messaging platforms or reply to an email on a smartphone.
Another factor to take into account is that the use of banking apps and mobile payment has spread more and more. As you can see, the smartphone is becoming more and more relevant. You also have to study the best way to protect it so you don’t end up being a victim of fraud.
Then, the point comes to ask yourself if you need a VPN on your mobile to navigate safely. In that case it has a lot to do with what you use that particular mobile for.
Advantages of having a VPN on our smartphone
At some point, we may need a VPN on mobile to surf safely. If we have a VPN, it can help us improve our privacy and security on the Internet. Next, we are going to explain the positive points of having a VPN installed on our mobile.
Surf safely on public Wi-Fi networks
One of the fundamental advantages it offers us is that we can safely navigate on public WiFi networks . If we go through a shopping center, train station, airport or cafeteria, we may want to connect to an open Wi-Fi network to avoid spending mobile data, this especially happens when we go abroad and we do not have data while roaming. These public and open Wi-Fi networks, we do not know if they are really secure, who is behind them or if another user is a cybercriminal who is connected to lurk to steal our data.
In this sense, one of the best ways to improve security and avoid problems is the use of VPN services. Thanks to them, our connections will be encrypted from our smartphone to the VPN server, and we avoid possible fraud and scams that may cause the theft of our data. For this reason, from this article we recommend that in public networks you do not use your banking apps and others that you consider important and private. If you don’t have a VPN, at least you have to do it with mobile data or from your home network. This way we will keep our finances safe.
Hide data traffic from our Internet provider
Another positive point is that it allows us to hide our traffic from our Internet provider (ISP) . This is an efficient way to maintain our privacy on the web. In case you don’t know, your ISP always knows what public IP address we are using, and is even capable of collecting the traffic that we exchange, websites that we visit, and even if we use their DNS servers, it will know more easily. Of course, all the traffic encrypted with HTTPS or through a VPN, you will not be able to “see” it since all the traffic is encrypted and authenticated, but the rest of the traffic such as DNS requests that are normally made in clear text, you will be able to see it , unless you use DNS over HTTPS or DNS over TLS.
Keep in mind that for an Internet Service Provider, keeping track of your browsing history is easy for them. The moment we connect to the network, we do so through a public IP assigned by them. To this we have to add that our WiFi router in many occasions we have the one that they provide. On some occasions, for example, they can access our routers and check if everything is in order. Afterwards, that data should in principle be stored for a while and then destroyed. In principle, unless required by a court, they should not leave there. However, depending on the legislation of each country, you could use more or less this data to do business.
Another advantage that VPNs have is that they serve to hide P2P downloads . Obviously from a smartphone you are not going to make downloads of that type. We comment on it because when you hire a service of this type, it allows you to use it on several devices. Therefore, another one of them could be a PC. In some countries like Germany P2P exchange is highly persecuted, and it is almost essential to use a VPN so that the corresponding fine does not reach us.
Connect to our home or work if we configure a VPN server
The most obvious use of a VPN connection is interconnectivity in networks that are not physically connected , such as workers who are currently out of the office or companies with branches in several cities that need to access a single private network.
Also a place where it can be important is to improve our security with teleworking . It is a practice that is spreading more and more. The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to some extent to its increase, although it must be recognized that in the medium / long-term future, many more people will work from home. When we telecommute, access is protected by a password, but this may not be enough. However, a cybercriminal could capture that password, for example, when the employee is on a public network. On the other hand, we find that the risk decreases if the worker and the company connect through a VPN connection. In this way we have protected access since the connection between the two is encrypted.
As you can see, a VPN on your mobile to navigate safely can offer us greater security and privacy.
Disadvantages of having a VPN on our mobile
Although most of the positive things have to make a series of considerations about the use of VPNs on our phones. Although there are free VPN services, you can’t expect much from them, both in terms of speed, latency and reliability. They are going to offer you quite slow connection speeds, much more than paid VPN services. Another debatable point is your privacy, although there are some who do respect it, others could use your data to do business, in this sense, for occasional use they could be worth it.
However, if we want a VPN on the mobile to navigate safely that guarantees anonymity and privacy, we need to hire a paid VPN , or use free VPNs like WARP from Cloudflare .
Another negative aspect is that the connection speed suffers . It must be recognized that we have a substantial difference between connecting to the Internet directly or through a VPN, especially if we have Internet connections greater than 300Mbps. If we do it through a VPN, we will have more latency and less download and upload speeds. Finally, they do not provide you with total anonymity, even if you are much closer to achieving it. Experts say that the best way to get that anonymity is to use VPN and the Tor browser.
Paid VPN services to surf safely on mobile
A VPN on mobile to surf safely is a good option. We know that our Internet operator monitors our browsing and, to avoid this, it is best to use a VPN. In addition, we also have cybercriminals who, at the slightest carelessness, will take advantage to steal our data and a VPN is also another defense barrier.
If we want one that guarantees our privacy and good speed, we will need to hire a paid one. Next, I am going to present you some of the VPN services that offer the best performance along with the promotion that they have in force at the moment.
The first is PureVPN which for € 0.99 allows us to test their service without restrictions for a week.
The second is HMA VPN that has a discount offer of up to 73% and rates that start from € 2.99 per month
We also have SurfShark that for € 1.69 offers us unlimited devices
Finally, we cannot forget about NordVPN , one of the best services and that provides us with the best Internet connection speed. In addition, the application for smartphones is very intuitive and fast.
In summary, we have these four good VPN services on mobile to surf safely.
