How Does AirVPN Hold Up For Travelers?

There are many reasons one might want to pay for a VPN on their computer and smartphone. It could be to avoid government surveillance (at home and overseas), prevent security breaches or simply to access Netflix overseas.

This can be difficult for the layperson who sees free and easier alternatives like HideMyAss and Hola VPN. Unfortunately, with digital security, there’s always a catch. Most free VPNs retain user data, even selling the information in some cases. If you really want to protect yourself, getting a paid service is a must. AirVPN costs about $60 a year, making it slightly cheaper than its competitors. While it’s cheaper, the interface is also heavy on jargon compared to more user-friendly services. A non-techie can figure it out, but not without referencing the website.

AirVPN beats the competition in terms of security, speed and availability. The organization has more than 80 servers around the world, located in 18 different countries, many in Europe. If you’re spending a lot of time in South America or Africa, a different service might get you better speeds. Connecting to a distant server is fine, but it might not be fast or reliable depending on your local internet connection. AirVPN has some of the fastest data rates available with no limit on time, traffic or speed, and you can connect up to three devices at a time.

More servers would be nice, but your money isn’t paying for convenience, it’s for security. For privacy advocates, it’s important to know where the VPN is based. The United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada and Australia are part of the intelligence alliance known as the “Five Eyes,” meaning servers within their borders are at risk of being compromised. AirVPN is based in Italy, part of a more extensive “14 Eyes” alliance, so it’s still somewhat of an issue.

For most people who aren’t Edward Snowden, it doesn’t matter, and even then, AirVPN was built by hacktivists fighting for privacy and net neutrality. There’s no way of proving this 100 percent, but the nature of digital security is that you eventually have to put your trust somewhere. One can go on AirVPN’s website and see for themselves. The service implements a variety of tools to protect users from an entire range of threats.