Category Archives: Hosting

A Dedicated Server Is Very Much In Demand For Ecommerce Sites And Trading

An ecommerce website is not a rare phenomenon in the present day conditions. The conditions and the factors relevant to business are changing with each day and one needs to be very fast at it. Getting an ecommerce website and promoting it is not a big deal. You may get a good looking site well designed by professionals but there are certain other details that one should look into.

dedicated

Those who have been in the business know that there are a lot of issues regarding the servers and hosting facilities. The first thing that you need to make very clear is to make sure that you use only those services which are actually important to your business. Never take up anything which is not useful for you.

Ecommerce websites do not always have the green days but seasonal festivals and holidays are the peak times for such sites to have some brisk business deals. At such a time a technical fault would cripple the business. During such times there will be a large number of people logged on to the sites and at such a time a server failure can be nothing less than the worst nightmare. A high influx of customers in large volume can sometimes break down servers.

This is one of the common problems faced by the servers which are shared between different sites. It might take a short time to get it back up for services but the lost time can be very crucial during holiday periods. That is why business entities always go for the dedicated servers which are the sole solution to such a scenario.

If one has a large amount of data and if one needs fast transactions on their ecommerce website, it is always better to go for dedicated servers. Even a large influx of customer data at a large speed would not be problem under these circumstances. Though the investment may be a considerate amount, this is a safe investment one should go for. The efficiency of the business goes up and you are able to serve your customer better. Reliability is another factor that you may need to consider very well.

There will be a large exchange of data when there is a large number of selling and buying. One simply cannot afford to lose any credential data due to the problems in servers. A good data centre with authorized security for the data is what dedicated servers mostly score for.

One more thing that you can consider is whether you want to go for managed servers or for unmanaged servers. A managed dedicated server hosting is managed by particular firms consisting of experienced professionals. This will cost you but here results are guaranteed. Each and every step will be well monitored and ensured that things are progressing as per the plans. In case you are going for unmanaged server the only difference is that there will not be a firm which will be looking after the servers and the functions. It will be your company’s data center managing the whole deal. If you feel that this will do well for your company then go for it.

Though a dedicated server hosting is the common practice for ecommerce, cloud computing is the future. People are looking forward towards it and it seems to be the next big thing in this market.

 

About the Author: Rounak has been researching about various features of web hosting now for quite some time. He also likes to research in dedicated hosting service, cheap dedicated server hosting dedicated server hosting.

 

Share

Magento Hosting – Choosing an Appropriate Service for Your Site

There are hundreds of thousands of Magento hosting providers to choose from. The service provider you choose for Magento hosting is going to determine whether or not your online store would be a success.  Generally, hosting companies of different kinds such as Magento hosting, generic web hosting or Ecommerce hosting may look the same as these are provided with simple terms and rules. Here we discuss about the important elements that you have to keep in mind when choosing a Magento hosting service provider for your online store.

Performance

Many online store owners neglect the importance of performance factor when choosing a hosting provider. This factor should not be taken lightly because studies prove that customers drastically attract towards a website that is hosted excellently. So you have to think about hosting performance and remember that internet is the most competitive corner to sell your products. Visitors will move to the shop that is 10% faster than yours.

Hosting performance has been increased when Google has started penalizing slower websites in search results. Actually, Google is very serious about penalizing slow web server. Increasing website speed has been considered as a way to make a website rank better in search results. More and more online store owners are started giving their store a Magento hosting environment for enhanced overall performance. Site owners need to tune their Magento hosting as per your specifications. You can earn this kind of performance by choosing the most talented Enterprise Hosting partners referenced by Magento. These hosting partners have developed unique hosting environments that speed up the behavior of an Ecommerce shopping cart.

Reliability

Starting a web hosting company is an easy matter because most of these companies are one-man shows or hobby hosts. No admin staff, no customer service staff, etc. Besides, these companies don’t have admin access to the servers that host a site virtually. They are actually resellers with no experience in hosting a website properly and they feature a low chance of continuing in business. Fortunately, Magento has system requirements that are enabled by default in a low amount of hosting companies. But, it functions only with a Magento web hosting environment. Otherwise, the hosting company won’t able to meet the specific web hosting support demands of client’s Magento shopping cart.

When you go for choosing a Magento hosting company, check for years that the company has been in the field. Companies on the Enterprise hosting partner list of Magento will be ideal because they know the pros and cons of every Magento application and hence, don’t leave experimenting on your hosting when issues occur. Some companies such as Nexcess, have been working with Magento for a long period of time. Though this kind of Magento hosting companies is available in very low percentage, they are a good place to start your search.

Protection

Protection may be the most crucial factor for all Ecommerce websites. For example, if your site keeps some valuable financial data such as personal contacts and credit card numbers, the seriousness of this subject is multiplied. No companies or stores can afford to risk the damaging effects of having the data compromised. Fortunately, most Magento hosting environments feature private, virtual parts of a server that secures the possibility of potential exploits that can be opened by unreliable webmasters that might share a server with the same shopping cart site.

You can choose any company for Magento hosting, but you have to apply daily PCI (payment card industry) scans through a service such as McAfee Secure or ScanAlert. These badges give extra assurance and protection to your visitors and this has been proven to enhance conversions by strengthening trust. Hence, your Magento hosting environment is safe in all ways. Still there are many web hosting companies that do not test for PCI compliance. You must ask your host about PCI compliance before choosing hosting.

Conclusion

You must be careful and intelligent while choosing a Magento hosting company for your online store. Don’t be hurry as you will end up with the same mistake that many Magento webmasters make. Learn about your service provider as much as possible by you before ordering for their service, so they can treat you well.

Author bio: Sam is an article freelance writer who mainly writes topics on tech, web designing and blogging. He has recently shared articles on web about Magento support which helps the users in knowing about how to choose the right services in the market.

Share

Grading Reliability and Security in a Web Hosting Provider – Here’s What To Look For

engineers-in-network-server-roomWhen you choose a web hosting provider, two of the most important things that you can strive to find are reliability and security. It’s very important that you pick the right provider for your needs. Choose the wrong one, and your whole business infrastructure could be in jeopardy. Pick the right one, and you can have a seamless experience as you unveil your site to the whole world. As with any purchase decision, there are certain things to look for in your provider before you make the final choice. Here’s what to evaluate before you go with a hosting provider.

How to Check for Reliability

Getting a reliable web hosting provider is one of the most important objectives in your search. Reliability is key. Think of it this way: Who would even want to bother with visiting your site if it isn’t always reliably up and functioning? Not too many site visitors would! The visitors that initially put up with your site that’s always down will eventually never come back, and you’ll lose them. Let’s say that a prospective site visitor is searching on Google and finds your site on the first page. However, if your site is down, then he’ll just skip over it and go to the next one on the list, which is bad for business. The best way to check for reliability is to simply try out the provider during peak hours and see what happens.

How to Check for Security

safeThis is especially pertinent if your plan is to sell various goods through your site. Your customers will hate you if their transactions are not secure, and, as a result, they end up being compromised. Obviously, your business will take a giant customer hit, too, so it is best to avoid it. The solution to this is to investigate if your new web hosting provider will permit you to establish a secure server or an SSL. You know your site has this security feature if its URL starts with an https:// instead of a mere http://.

How to Evaluate Your Control Panel

Making sure your control panel is effective ties in to both the reliability and security of your provider experience. The whole purpose of your control panel is that it permits you to manage various factors of your web account all by yourself. At the least, a control panel must let you delete, manage and add email addresses as well as alter passwords for your account. According to http://www.webhostingreviews.ca, never sign up with a provider if it won’t even allow you to manage these fundamental things. If both reliability and security are your top priorities when you’re choosing a web hosting provider, then this is what you should be watching out for. The more of a business stake you have in your site, the more your provider should be able to assure you of both reliability and security if you do hosting with them. A great indicator of reliability is a site’s speed, a great way to make a site secure is through SSL, and a control panel should let you manage the basics of your site.

Share

How VPN Services Can Help with SEO

Analysts and data processors all over the world have long known that operating a good website is no longer as simple as logging on the net and clicking “Publish.” Search engine optimization (SEO) is a major factor in helping businesses boost the visibility of their sites and drive more traffic to their web pages, which raises advertising revenue and increases the customer base.

The founding principle behind SEO efforts is that search engines can only put a certain number of pages at the top of any search list, and the websites that perform best are the ones that are able to get to the top of those lists. Enter the SEO specialists. People who specialize in SEO can help businesses make the most of their online presences by bumping their web pages to the top of those search lists and ultimately increasing traffic to the sites.

VPNBut in those efforts, it’s important for SEO specialists to take advantage of all of the tools at their disposal, and VPN services can provide a major boost to the work of these specialists in a number of ways.

The Basics of VPN

VPN services operate by allowing web users to connect to servers other than the ones provided by their local networks. Having signed up for a VPN service, the user can simply enter his or her information and connect to a network that is essentially different (and likely superior) to the normal network.

Being able to connect to a different network allows users to improve their web experience in two ways. First, VPN services provide a higher level of security. Because VPN services come with data encryption, all of the activity that takes place on these networks in shielded from people who want to steal information from unsuspecting parties online. That means that any personal information, like account passwords or important identification numbers, is safe.

In addition, VPN services provide a more open internet. In some places, network restrictions stop people from accessing sites that they need. This is especially true in schools or offices, which tend to place restrictions on social media and email sites, in addition to pages related to certain subject matter. The same can be said for certain parts of the world. VPN services allow users to connect to servers in different locations, without the same restrictions and limits as the normal local network.

Monitoring SEO Efforts Effectively

In the past, SEO was an easier operation. Results were more likely to be similar in multiple places, so the search results brought up by the SEO specialist in one specific place could be representative of overall results. Today, however, localized results are becoming more common for web searches. When a person searches for something on Google, the site will attempt to bring up the best options for local sites or services in an effort to connect people with what they are looking for.

Of course, this can make the SEO specialist’s job a bit more difficult. Monitoring in one location is easy enough, but it is impossible to monitor in other areas without the help of a VPN service. VPN services offer connections to exit servers in multiple areas, and connecting to those servers can trick the search engines into bringing up results for areas other than the local region. Clearly, this can be a major help to SEO specialists, as they can get a better idea of how effective their efforts have been for clients in multiple parts of the country or the world.

Optimization on the Go

Because the internet is open 24/7, it’s also important for people working in online businesses to have reliable security no matter where they connect. SEO is a particularly demanding operation, as it requires constant additions to websites and constant work to push sites up the search engine ladders. In order to provide the best SEO services possible, specialists have to be able to work from multiple locations, including work, home, and even on vacation.

VPN services help in this way, too. While the office may have good security measures for internet connections, the same can’t always be said for the local coffee shop or the airport. If you need to connect to the internet with guaranteed security, VPN services help. They allow users to connect just the same as they would at the office, allowing people to get more work done with the knowledge that their information isn’t being put at risk, even if connections are made over unsecured public networks.

The benefits to VPN services for SEO specialists are many. SEO specialists have the unique job of continually building on websites in order to improve search rankings in multiple regions, so it makes sense to use a service that allows for monitoring of multiple locations. And just like any other businesses, SEO companies can always benefit from the security benefits that VPN services provide.

Melissa Tyler reviews the best VPN providers at VPN Ten.com. She loves to write posts about VPN security, safety technology and anonymously browsing.

Share

What is CDN Hosting and Why It Matter

Images1

Photo courtesy of poster.4teachers.org

Individual websites may have a multitude of different needs based on their website’s particular audience, but they all have one thing in common –the need for high speed internet.

Unfortunately, if your website does not run well or load quickly, people will leave your site in under 30 seconds –especially if the content has not loaded fast enough for their needs and patience.   Consider the massive shift to mobile – people simply may not have enough bandwidth if they are visiting your site on their 3g or 4g connections.

What is CDN?

impage 2

Photo courtesy of cdn77.com/how-cdn77-works

CDN or content delivery network is a system on the internet that combines several computers with the purpose of speeding up website content. It does this by providing said content on several different servers and guiding it to users based on their geographical location. The server closest to them will provide them with their online experience –and a better one at that.

The servers work by using content replication. This is when various different servers house the same content. Each server is strategically placed to best serve the end users, or website visitors.

A content delivery network can obtain thousands of servers to house the content. This allows a website to run efficiently, even during substantial spikes in traffic. When a specific web page is requested by a user, the server closest to that user is decided upon and used. This ensures the content will be the speediest possible.

Internet service providers, or ISPs, employ content delivery networks to pages with lots of streaming video, audio and other internet-type television.  They also serve some static pages as well, but CDN’s are most commonly used for high bandwidth usage.

Websites such as YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo all use content delivery networks in order to give their audience the best possible experience using their dynamic web pages. Without CDN’s, many a website has crashed and or loaded in a snail-like fashion.

impage 3

Photo courtesy of socialmediaseo.net

Why does CDN matter?

Content delivery networks matter because customers and website users expect a quick and easy experience, with no timeouts. If your website gets tons of hits a day and experiences peak hours of traffic, a CDN will ensure the pages your customers are trying to get to will be accessible to them.

When Jennifer Lawrence won the Oscar for best actress this year, I rushed to her site to learn more about her.  Lo and Behold, her website was down due to a Bandwidth Limit Exceeded.  Embarrassing, to say the least!  And unnecessary with CDN networks.

impage 4

If your website pages are readily available, your business is able to flourish and grow without any interruption from the interweb. If pages do not load properly or crash during peak hours of traffic, this could leave you losing business and possibly never recovering from customers that will be turned off to the idea of returning to your website.

The best web hosting companies will offer content delivery networks to you. They understand the importance of providing a high speed connection to the customer and will work with you based on your specific needs and amount of customers you are trying to service.

Even more reasons to use CDN:

 

  • Enhanced data backup

 

  • Better archiving

 

  • Allows for more storage capacity

If you are searching for a way to make your website faster and more easily accessed by your customer base, then content delivery networks may be the right answer for you. Do more research and decide what the needs of your company are based on size and amount of traffic your website receives. You may also consider contacting your local hosting company for answers via telephone or email.

Marcela De Vivo is a freelance writer and online marketing professional with expertise in social networking, search marketing, and web analytics in the Los Angeles area. She has written on everything from health & wellness, to marketing and technology.

 

Share

Why You Want to Protect Credit Card Details/Data with PCI Hosting Service

security-concept-metal-hard-diskProtecting Credit Card Details/Data:

Availing a PCI compliant hosting service is vital for all kinds’ big business or web 2.0 startup that accepts stores or transmits credit card information. Through making sure that the organization is performing so, cardholder details can be safeguarded from infiltrators. Due to this, problems like credit card fraud and identity theft can be prevented. Credit card details are one of the most sought after data online. Once received by unauthorized person, account holders can fall victim easily to monetary fraud. If this occurs, your organization will be liable for not executing stringent security methods. It can result to legal disputes, government fines with cardholders and a possible delay in execution. To combat with the raising level of credit card fraud, the PCI DSS, payment card industry data security standards were introduced. Administered by the big credit card firms and maintained by the security standards, the standards need business owners and partners to make sure the safety of cardholder details through making proper diligence and using best practices.

Updating the system:

These conditions cover everything from placing the anti virus software, firewall to executing powerful access control steps and maintaining a data systems security practices. These fundamental rules can assist to protect systems from details thieves. Regarding system maintenance, it is good to remember that hackers will find different ways to get by the hard security protocols, so it is important for PCI hosting service  to update the software regularly in all the machines which contain credit cardholder details. When an organization is availing outdated software, the system of the company will not contain the advanced security protocols to safeguard the data from the people who have hacked the software, thus exposing credit cardholder details. Regularly updating the system is one of the several PCI data security standard requirements which assist to safeguard cardholder information and maintain its safety. The PCI rules are ever evolving, making better defenses every time infiltrators try to breach them. It operates to maintain system regulation and standards to make sure maximum protection for data/details. Therefore, companies, merchants and online businesses can contain a impecable, safe and reliable hosting system.

Meeting the PCI standards:

Through entrusting the cardholder details to a best PCI hosting service, you can get a secure network where the cardholder data is safeguarded, does not increase vulnerability methods and is able to limit unauthorized access. Due to to these systems, you can guarantee your customers that their credit card details will remain secure with in your business parameters. To satisfy the current PCI rules and standards, an organization functions will require complying with twelve (12) core principals that include and range from constructing a secure network and checking for data vulnerability on regular basis. Complying with these needs can at times present as a difficult and lengthy process, with the organisation having to allocate significant and relevant resources to ensure that they continue to be up to date and make changes in IT fields along the way. Should a company fail to meet the PCI standards, they can be penalised, in certain cases these companies can pay penalties up to $50,000.

Efficient PCI hosting provider:

By working with the professional and experienced PCI hosting service provider, a business can avoid two (2) major problems; they can ensure that their business becomes and/or continues to be compliant with PCI standards, simultaneously ensure the networks stability and security. A experienced PCI service provider offers better managed hosting solutions for business’, it ensures a robust and secure infrastructure which is compliant with the industry standards and requirements. A skilled and professional PCI hosting service providers greatly assist and lead the business’ in hosting solution, and ensure efficient and safe functionality.

 

Author Biography:

Nada Ljubinovic  is interested in telecommunication, in particular shares and interest in PCI hosting, data hosting, data centres, voice and mobile services.

 

Share

iPage Reviews-Is It a Reliable Web Hosting? & iPage Discount & Bonuses

Web hosting services provided by iPage started in the year 1998, the hosting company has since grown to its current enormous size. The hosting services are fast and reliable, making it one of the most liked web hosting companies. iPage provides hosting services for small and medium sized websites at an immensely cheaper cost.  For any person who is new and looking for webmaster iPage is a good place to start.

iPage-Bonus-Discount

Control Panel

The control panel used by iPage is the most famous panel namely vDeck.  There are many attributes of this type of control panel but the most outstanding include ease of use and simplicity. The structure of the panel has the following features, easy to manage, easy database creation, email account creation and use, easy domain management and quick installation of favorite scripts.

Hosting Value

iPage hosting price is customer friendly, the basic shared hosting account receives the amazing packages at a uniquely low price. Some of the features offered by iPage hosting include unlimited bandwidth and space, business databases and emails, and other related offers of up to five hundred dollars.  There are other several add ons that the client may buy depending on their needs one of the most vital one is automate site back up.  The backing of data is important in case of malware or virus attack. Directory listing is another add on that many firms require because it helps their clients to access them easily.

Reliability

The company guarantees its customers of excellent services and one of it is an uptime of up to 99.9 percent. The constant uptime is vital for many websites as clients may want information from the hosted sites any time of the day, on the vent the sites are down it may create a bad reputation for the company.  The company has dedicated support team ready to help their clients with any emerging issues, on top of it they server uptime is also top notch.

Customer Support

The iPage support team is conversant with most of the problems their clients face hence; they are up to date with the necessary information needed. The team is ready to help any client with account issues; they are professional and quick problem solvers.  The support team is available round the clock hence, even at night if there is a problem one can contact them for help and guidance. The live chat ensures they have given an immediate response to the client’s issues, while for technical issues a call or an email will serve the purpose.

Guarantees

The company guarantees their clients that they will have ninety-nine percent uptime server time, 24/7 available support a full refund of hosting package within thirty days.  Partial refunds during the subscription period is also available.

Green Hosting

The servers of ipage are powered wind produced energy; the Eco friendly service extends to the consumer. With the increase of environmental pollution and climate change shift to non-fossil energy aids in the consumer getting the Eco-friendly service. The idea ensures that the consumer contributes to environmental conservation.

Advantages of iPage hosting

Linux powers hosting packages offered by page, the hosting company provides unlimited bandwidth and storage space. This helps the consumer to store their content without worry of space filling up. iPage offers the package for discounted price 3.5 dollars, yellow pages and it is the simplest builder.  The design allows the consumer to create many pages within a short period.

Disadvantages of iPage

One of the demerits of iPage is that it does not have an upgrade capability. iPage does not provide windows hosting solutions because at times the servers may get busy for a considerable period. Although the company has impeccable database connections, the firm does not provide ASP.net.
In summary, small and medium business can greatly benefit from iPage web hosting, as their services are top notch while prices remain low. They have an impeccable uptime and hosting packages hence, the right option.

Share

How to Get Hosting for Cheap?

So you’ve finally decided on stepping into the website business and are primarily thinking of establishing your own website first. Getting an appropriate hosting for your website is always a tricky task which needs smart solutions. You may either opt for independent hosting starting from scratch or get shared hosting if you’re looking for a simple website for yourself. In either case, monetary constraints play a major role. If you’re looking for cheap hosting, you may want to consider some basics before you strike a deal. Since there are innumerable packages offered on the internet, you may find making a choice tad bit confusing.

Web hosting providers nowadays offer the simplest of all services such as a designated space for your website on their server along with a FTP software which helps you in downloading multimedia files and applications. However, most of the web hosting companies may force you into acquiring such a service for a limited period of time when you’re looking for  a ‘cheap’ expense. On the other hand, with only a little more research and a bit more expense, you can own an independent and free hosting server for unlimited use for your businesses.

An ideal cheap hosting should cost you around $10/month but then the question arises, what should you look for in cheap hosting? Here are a few matters you may want to check in before you finalize your hosting service,

1-      Free Setup

Out of the innumerable services out there, paying for your setup fee is impractical. Especially if you’re opting for a shared hosting service (which is considerably cheap), setting up a new space is very simple. Hence, choose that service which provides you free setup in addition to the service.

2-      Unlimited space/bandwidth

Gone are the days when one couldn’t find a service provider who would offer unlimited space for your website. Service providers these days offer the incentive of unlimited space and bandwidth to its subscribers in order for their clients to expand according to their free will. Especially when you’re opting for independent hosting over shared hosting.

3-      Tenure for evaluation of service

Thirty days is a reasonable time for a buyer to test and experiment the hosting service they have acquired. Make sure your provider gives you that time to evaluate their service before you jump onto signing a contract with them. This helps you gauge the hosting service and gain more confidence on your deal.

4-      Customer Relationship

Many novice website builders require on and off assistance from their hosting service providers while using the service to entertain and solve their queries and complains respectively. If you’re the same kind then do not opt for a hosting service which is only available through online chat and FAQs at your service with minimal or no one-to-one contact. This will only land you in further displeasure from the service.

5-      All features you need

Depending on the venture you’re set on to build; finalize your requirements before you head out to hunt for a hosting service provider. For example, if you need a database with PHP, then do not sign off with a host which does not provide for you within your budget. Moving away and changing your hosts can be very time costly.

When you’ve begun your hunt, you may want to look into websites offering discounted coupons for your hosting and domain services such as Godaddy coupon codes amongst the following other cheap hosts,

  • 110 MB
  • Hypermart
  • Lotosus.com
  • vistaPages
  • BlueHost
  • HostMonster

About the Author:

Justin is a technology blogger who loves to share website and hosting related secretes. If you are looking for a BIG save, here are some great Godaddy hosting codes available.

Share

Major Differences between VPS and Dedicated Hosting

Finding a server for your website can be as difficult as choosing the right hosting package is. All of this procedure calls for smart decision making and plenty research. There are 2 basic types of servers for hosting; VPS and Dedicated hosting. Both have individual properties and are feasible for different requirements. The first step in the website building process is to jot down YOUR needs before choosing your resources.

Below are some basic differences between VPS and Dedicated hosting which will make the concept of each clearer for you,

VPS:

VPS is a virtual private sector which allots you a certain space virtually for your hosting. It is one of the most affordable options for hosting services available in the market. IN VPS, the client can use the service with an allotted amount of resources according to the websites needs and requirements. The server contains specialized virtualization facilities which make the partition between multiple virtual servers possible from a single physical server.

It provides the owners of VPS a specific control over the server thereby eliminating the responsibility of managing and maintaining the server. The main server is managed by the server hosting company.

VPS is an ideal option for owners who do not need access to the highest level controls for their websites rather only need to have guaranteed resources for their usage. All these facilities provide very affordable hosting and apt resources whenever needed.

Dedicated Hosting:

Dedicated Hosting is dedicated entirely to an individual giving him complete control of a server. Dedicated hosting is neither shared nor virtual. A person acquires the entire server for personal or professional use. This also provides the owner to have complete access to the changes, management and maintenance of the operating system and software.

However, some dedicated hosting services offer a partition if the software is needed to be shared or partitioned between multiple parties.

Cutting it short, if you’re looking for shared, simple and less manageable server then VPS is the choice for you but if you’re looking for an independent hosting with complete control, then it’s advisable to go for dedicated hosting according to your needs.

About the Author:

Justin is a technology blogger who loves to write about web hosting and website related stuff. If you are looking for hosting for your company consider Macquarie Telecom as they provide high end data center, collocation and hosting related services.

Share

3 Hidden Drawbacks of Using Free VPNs

Using a VPN is considered to be one of the most reliable tools for enhancing online security and privacy.  Unfortunately, not all VPN services are the same.  There are a number of free options. These are used by a growing number of people.  While free services sound like a great idea, they rarely deliver value to the user.  The problem is that most people who use free VPNs are using this technology for the first time and have not identified the risks associated with it.  Let’s take a closer look at three hidden drawbacks of using free VPN services.

1.  Poor Infrastructure

Network infrastructure is critical to every VPN service, both free and paid.  It will largely determine how useful the connection is.  Low-quality network infrastructure creates a variety of problems for the end user.  Unfortunately, these problems are extremely common among free VPN services.

 

The biggest problem is slow data transfer speeds.  Encrypting data is a very CPU intensive process.  Low-quality networks lack enough servers to quickly process and encrypt the data being sent to everyone connected to it.  As a result, it takes a long time for data to be sent from the server to the end-user.  Additionally, bandwidth limitations lead to slow transfer speeds once the data packets have been sent.  People who use VPNs for the first time don’t realize that slow transfer speeds are not the result of the connection, but rather a lack of network infrastructure.  As a result, they assume that every service will be equally slow. They often either stop using it altogether or continue struggling with slow transfer speeds.

2.  Dealing with Advertising

Another common problem of using free VPN services is dealing advertising.  Bandwidth, servers, and IT staff cost money.  In order to offer free services, the service providers must find ways to monetize their VPN connections.  The easiest way to do this is by bombarding users with advertising.  Free service providers will either sell ad space to marketing agencies or rely on pop-up ads.

3.  Free VPNs Track What Users Do Online

One of the primary reasons people turn to VPN connections is to avoid being tracked by online marketing agencies and websites.  One method of monetization free VPNs is to track the user’s online activity.  They sell this information to online marketing agencies and websites.  This tracking defeats the purpose of using a VPN for privacy.

Using a free VPN service sound like a great idea, but the practical application is lacking.  Premium service providers own their own network infrastructure which allows them to maintain high connectivity rates and fast data transfer speeds.  They do not rely on advertising in order to generate income.  Since premium VPN services require only a nominal monthly fee, they should be considered the best option for anyone interested in using an iPhone VPN.

 

Share