Rightidea4u is supported by readers. Some links on Rightidea4u are referral links. If you use one of these and buy something, Rightidea4u may make a small amount of money
It’s official! Back to School season is here. It’s a great time to get your hands on something you were eying for so long such as getting a VPN.
Naturally, investing in a premium VPN isn’t cheap but we’re here to help. With this guide, we’ve rounded up the best deals on the best VPNs for schools such as Surfshark, Express, NordVPN, and more. But before we head down to the list let’s discuss why schools and colleges need to get VPNs.
The threat of cybercrime is on us therefore kids/students are no exception. Students come with tons of reasons to get connected to the internet over Wi-Fi or 5G to access online libraries, endless multimedia content, and face-to-face video communication. In fact, many studies have stated that students do use more internet services as compared to those younger and older generations. While toting around their laptops, tablets, and smartphones they are prone to additional risks, such as cyber bullies, stalkers, malware (malicious software), and hackers.
Therefore, VPN or Virtual Private Network works as a savior for them. In simpler terms, a VPN helps the user to hide their online identity by encryption. College-bound students can make the best use of VPN to secure free WiFi hotspots and campus networks at public libraries or coffee shops. Now the question arises which is the best match of VPNs for college, school, or coffee shop wifi?
But before jumping to the VPN listicle, here are a few doubts among users that need to be rectified.
Are VPN usage legal?
In today's internet era VPN usage has become a necessity for online privacy and it is completely legal(except in a few countries). The only thing one should keep in mind while using VPN is that you should not use it for any illegal activity that breaks any law of the geographical boundaries.
In most places, VPN usage is completely legal while others may put some restrictions on it.
We recommend you use caution while using the VPN services.
How much does VPN usage cost?
You don’t have to spend a fortune to encrypt your online activity. The good news is that majority of the VPNs are inexpensive. You can also avail free trial version for some of the VPNs. Whereas VPN cost is dependent on several factors like the number of devices supported, data usage caps (or lack thereof), the number of servers to which you can connect, and the availability of Netflix or torrenting are some of those factors.
One of the pro tips we can provide to you is that you should sign up for a long period rather than signing up for a shorter period. It will help you in decreasing the cost because as the term length increases your monthly cost decreases.
Are there any cons to VPN usage?
VPN hides your IP address, It encrypts your data and keeps your online presence secret and anonymous. That’s why one prefers to use VPN.
Having said that, we know that everything has its advantages and disadvantages. Before diving into the disadvantages of VPN we know that it has many pros also, which far outweigh its cons. However, you can remove some of the cons of VPN by selecting the most suitable one according to your requirements.
Below are some of the disadvantages of using a VPN:
- First of all, we need to accept the fact that VPNs are blocked by some countries. So you can’t use VPN services in those countries. And if you use it, it is an illegal act that might put you in trouble.
- If you use VPN to access certain services like NETFLIX, or some other streaming services then you might risk being blocked by those services permanently.
- We use VPN to access various live streaming platforms that government doesn’t allow us to use it. But we can access those content through VPN, which is good for you and it is working for you but we found that some VPN decreases the speed of the internet.
- Some people prefer to try a free VPN service before paying for one. But many free VPN providers are only interested in making money rather than protecting your privacy and anonymity online.
Without delaying any further, let's start with the list of best back to School VPNs:
1. ExpressVPN
The best thing about ExpressVPN is that it is natively available in large parts of the world. No matter where you are, you may easily find ExpressVPN services there. It is available across 3000 servers in more than 160 countries, proving that it is one of the widely available VPN service providers.
It provides you with AES 256-bit encryption and a no-logs policy. This implies complete privacy for all users, one of the latest encryption techniques available. This encryption technique that ExpressVPN uses is equivalent to military-grade encryption. This makes your web browsing anonymous and you can’t be easily detected by your ISP(Internet Service Provider).
2. Surfshark VPN
You get what you pay for, but this is not the case with Surfshark VPN. They provide you with one of the best services which include speed, various security features, the capability to unblock websites, network reliability, and device compatibility. And with their Back to School VPN offer, you can get a lot more by paying less. Surfshark is extremely safe to use, has many strong security features that the average VPN does not have, and is extremely user-friendly.
Surfshark is a new company that was founded in 2018. However, it has expanded dramatically in the last four years. They have over 3200 servers in over 65 countries around the world and are constantly expanding. When it comes to security features, Surfshark offers OpenVPN, IKEv2, WireGuard, and SOCKS5. They have all of the most secure and up-to-date protocols for you to choose from.
3. NordVPN
This VPN provider is the number one contender on our list. It is used by the majority of people across various countries. NordVPN does not store your data and personal details. Also, there are no session or traffic logs at all. It provides its services to over 5500 locations in about 59 countries. Hence it gives Various location choices to shift to various servers located in different parts of the world.
Its services are available for Android devices, Windows, iOS, and macOS. This made NordVPN a highly compatible VPN for our school Wifi, coffee shop Wifi, or our office Wifi.
As we have discussed earlier one of the cons of VPN is that it decreases your speed but here NordVPN comes to your rescue. It provides high speeds for streaming and downloading. If you face any problems 24/7 live chat support is available for its users to resolve their issues by a highly efficient technical team.
4. PureVPN
It was 2007 when PureVPN's initial foundation was laid with the sole purpose of protecting your privacy online. You can find the company located in the British Virgin Islands. From there they continue to provide service with over 6500 servers in 78 countries and network bandwidth of up to 20Gbit.
Right now PureVPN is the most technologically powerful and efficient VPN provider. It is because they can even bypass the Great Firewall of China.
The main area of focus of PureVPN is that they provide anonymity while protecting your data and giving you the best-desired speeds. And according to PureVPN users, they have the expertise to excel in these areas. It is very easy to bypass certain blocked website content with PureVPN.
5. CyberGhost VPN
It was founded back in 2011, despite being one of the youngest VPN service providers it has become very popular among school and college students around the world. The user-friendly CyberGhost apps provide connection modes with specific servers for a variety of purposes such as online gaming, streaming, torrenting, and even dedicated IP connections. This VPN, like other top-rated VPNs on the market, supports all currently popular platforms. Installing this VPN is a breeze, and getting started exploring its features is just as simple.
CyberGhost has a server network of 7700+ servers in 90 countries. These are further divided into multiple categories such as gaming, torrenting, and streaming to provide students with the best-in-class VPN experience.
It provides you with the best of its AES-256-Bit encryption, DNS/IPv6 leak protection, and zero-log policy. It also ensures the user of its complete online privacy and security across all its servers.
Last words:
Last but not least, as the old saying goes, precaution is better than cure. It's our duty to make our kids and students vigilant about cyber threats and cyberbullies. With the Back to School offer, you can enjoy a lot more amazing features by paying less.
