When is a Virtual Private Network worth it?

Ever since Pirate Bay has been blocked, your Facebook page has probably been bombarded with thousands of adverts promoting VPNs, or Virtual Private Networks. They promise to keep the copyright police at bay, while also allowing you to watch any global network streaming service no matter if it’s geoblocked. But how do they actually work, do they do the job, and most importantly, can they alter the gaming experience?

How does a VPN work

The concept behind a VPN is actually relatively simple. Rather than your network traffic travelling directly from your PC to a website server or game server, your traffic is directed straight from your PC to a server delivered by your VPN provider. This server then routes your traffic and the return data back to your PC over an encrypted connection. So for example, if I’m trying to access the HBO site from Australia, which is normally geoblocked, the VPN tunnel hides my location, and I can now access the HBO service. This is one of the main benefits of a VPN, but security is also key.

By encrypting all of your send and receive requests, it makes it that much harder for hackers and data snoops to see what you’re sending. While we absolutely do not condone downloading copyrighted material such as this week’s Game of Thrones episode, by using a VPN, it makes it next to impossible for the copyright owner to see what you’re downloading.

There are many different types of VPNs, but that’s out of the scope of this article – some use different network topology or security types to get the job done.

What makes a good VPN?

We spoke to Liz Kintzele, VP of Sales & Director of Marketing at Golden Frog, GmbH, to get her company’s views on several different VPN matters. First of which is – what makes one VPN better than the rest? According to Liz, first and foremost it’s the speed and performance of the VPN network. To ensure that a VPN network is zippy and responsive, it must have a large number of VPN servers distributed around the world. Not only does this help when large numbers of users are using the VPN, but it also lowers the latency for local users, and issue many Australians find with using overseas-based VPNs. Golden Frog has a map of all of its VPN servers, available to view online here: http://www.goldenfrog.com/vyprvpn/fe...rver-locations. There are three in Australia – one in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.

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As you can see from the screenshots, while VyprVPN didn’t hugely affect download speeds, it did dramatically increase ping. We were testing on a 100Mbit/sec fibre to the home Optus connection, and with the VPN disabled got a 3ms ping to the local Optus server. Turning on the VPN connection increased this to 29ms. However, Golden Frog does have a solution for this – more about that later.

Next up is ease of use. Most mainstream gamers aren’t hugely network savvy, so setting up a VPN should a quick and simple affair. In the case of the VyprVPN offered by Golden Frog, it’s a simple app that you can install on your PC, tablet or even phone. Hit connect and you’re good to go. From there, you can easily change which server you’re connected to, tricking US servers that you’re streaming your films and movies locally.

Other features are things like VyprVPNs Chameleon Protocol, which it uses to get around VPN blocking technology. Many media streaming companies have realised that users are now employing VPNs to get around their geoblocking technology, so not all VPNs will allow access to all streaming services to Australia.

Outfox

One of the latest services offered by VyprVPN is its Outfox product. They’re not the first company in the world to offer such a network, with the likes of WTFast offering similar services. Bear with us, as this can get a little technical.

Firstly, your PC sends packets to your ISP, which are then routed to the game server by the ISP’s Border Gateway Protocol. The packets are then directed through an Autonomous System (AS), comprised of networks that each have an Autonomous System Number (ASN). The BGP then uses ASNs to route your traffic and the potential paths are listed in a routing table.

They’re not the first company in the world to offer such a network, with the likes of WTFast offering similar services.

Now, in this instance, the router will choose the path with the least ASNs to get your packets to the game server. This sounds all well and good, but it may choose a route that has the least hops, but one of those hops along the way could be a high-latency hop, and you end up with lag.

Outfox fixes this issue by continually monitoring the quality of the connection – if it detects high-latency or another issue, it will change the path of your data pockets, and thus leading to a lower ping.

24/7 or not

Given our increase with latency, we wouldn’t recommend using a VPN at all times. However, when you’re not gaming, we think it’s definitely worth keeping on at all other times. This is especially true when you’re on a Wi-Fi network, as it firms up the security immensely. Also, with many governments now having data retention policies, a VPN means they can’t see what you’re sending, no matter how innocent it is.

Some VPN apps will automatically engage when they note that you’re using Wi-Fi or a certain app, and stay off at other times, making the process incredibly simple. It’s also possible to use a VPN to get around your ISP throttling your connection if you happen to use all of your data for the month; if it can’t tell who you are, it can’t then throttle your connection.

Political uses

The ability to spoof the location of your PC isn’t just great for getting the latest episode of Twin Peaks. VPNs are at the core of many online revolutions, where the government has extremely strict monitoring of their country’s networks in place. By tricking the network into thinking that you’re streaming from Australia, it’s given local political activists the ability to communicate using the Internet.

Unfortunately this is becoming harder as governments have realised the weakness of their networks. Many now employ deep packet inspection (DPI) to look deep inside each packet and see if it’s being transported via VPN. For example, the ‘Great Firewall of China’ has been able to identify and throttle encrypted communication, and block sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It’s going to take new VPN technologies to get around these issues.

Weaknesses of VPNs

As well as their ability to be targeted by DPI, if a specific VPN is targeted, it’s likely that the data can be compromised. There’s also the risk that the host machine sending the data over the VPN has already been compromised by Malware or a Virus, in which case the data is already compromised before it goes over the VPN. This is why it’s crucial to ensure your PC is totally free of any naughty software before using a VPN, otherwise the VPN is a moot point.

Choosing your VPN

So, you’ve received your second copyright infringement letter in the mail, and have decided that a VPN is for you. But how do you choose when there are so many on the market?
First and foremost is find out how many servers each company has in Australia. If a company isn’t willing to share its server locations, there’s a good chance they don’t have that many. Thankfully most VPNs offer a free trial, so you can give each one a go to see how it impacts your download speeds and latency.

Secondly, don’t pay too much. It’s possible to get a good VPN service for around $9 per month in Australia. Corporate-grade VPNs are much more expensive as they offer multiple tunnels. Next up, check out how easy it is to use the service, and once again the free trials offered by most VPN companies will come in handy. Check how many devices the service works with – will it encrypt your phone’s data as well as your PC’s?

Finally, check out forums like www.whirlpool.net for feedback from other users and see what the majority recommend. The folks on these forums are network lords, so know all there is about VPNs. Some of the top VPNs currently available in Australia are IPVanish, Express VPN, NordVPN, SlickVPN and VyprVPN.

Keeping the Internet free and open

As governments around the word continue to squeeze the Internet with even heavier monitoring and data retention laws, tools like VPNs will become ever important to keep the Internet a free and open tool for humans to communicate. It’s a cat and mouse game, but as usual, it seems to be the commercial world that has the lead. Let’s hope they can continue to do so.

Of course, "YOU" need one, which should has no-log warranty!