Choosing the best VPN server location is really a tough job for beginners to Virtual Private Network. Sometimes, the people who are using the VPN for many years may be facing some difficulties. So, it is a crucial decision that must be taken before selecting any VPN. It is not a dream to use the internet in the most secure manner. In this article, you will learn the key factors and things that are necessary to learn before choosing any VPN server location.
Let’s start with the basics of the Virtual Private Network.
Table of Contents
Basic Understanding of VPN Server
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a connection method of a regular server that runs VPN software and protocols on it, allowing service providers to provide security and privacy to their clients. These types of servers are initially used by corporations to protect sensitive information over the internet. Nowadays, the VPN server locations are available in several countries according to the interest and special requirements of the clients.
VPNs are based on the dedicated servers that are physically located in various countries and only accessible to the users that buy the services. Some providers prefer to use the VPS (Virtual Private Server) of cloud servers to save the cost, but these types of servers are not as reliable as the dedicated servers. In VPS, there are many other clients using the same resources of the machine, so it is less expensive but not a good approach for VPN services.
Working of a VPN Server
Once a user connects to the VPN server, his IP address will be replaced automatically with the IP address of the server, and the data transmission between VPN client and server will also be encrypted. For example, you are located in Russia and connected to a VPN location in Germany, now every website you access will only see the IP address of Germany.
Why do You Need a VPN?
- Hide your IP address
Virtual Private Network hides the real IP address that helps you to hide your location.
- Get a New IP address
You can also change and get the different IP addresses with the help of a VPN.
- Encrypt Your data transfers
A Virtual Private Network will protect your data transferred over public Wi-Fi.
- Mask your location
Using a particular Virtual Private Network, users can easily select the country of origin for their desired Internet connection and are able to mask their locations without any difficulties.
- Unblock websites
You can access the websites blocked by the government with the help of a VPN service. VPN is also a best option to bypass proxies and firewalls.
VPN Server Location VS VPN Location
The place where the server is physically located in the country is known as a VPN server location. The VPN location is referred to like the place (usually the country) where the VPN provider is located or incorporated in.
Why do we need to choose the best VPN Location?
Whenever you need a smooth and convenient online experience, you will access the VPN. Still, you are facing the problems then why you waste your money? There are mainly two reasons, either it is caused by the poor service or you didn’t choose the best VPN country.
If you are facing questions like what is the optimal location in VPN and what does optimal location mean? There is no need to worry about, I am going to provide a potential scenario: you are using the VPN to download the torrents and slow speed means that it will take more time to finish. If the distance between you and your server is longer then there is a chance of connection drop. Once you have dropped the connection, you will be exposed to ISP and they will see that you were downloading torrents that were a legal issue in your country.
The factors to be considered before choosing the Best VPN Server Location
Every user has particular goals, so select a server that is suitable for you to get a decent experience. Following are the main factors that you must consider before finalizing your decision:
1. Distance between You and Your Server
If you are going to connect with a server that is located from quite far from your country or location then you might experience a slower speed. The reason is simple, the longer distance needs more time to transmit or receive data packets passed between your computing devices, VPN server, and the websites.
In this digital world, every user needs a faster online browsing experience without wasting his precious time in website loadings. So, always try to connect the best country for the VPN server which is closer to your home country.
You are located in Russia and using 100mbps internet connection, you will get better speeds by the connection to a server located in China (90-95mpbs speed for example) than the UK (5-15mbps, potentially). Each user has a different internet connection, so these numbers are used to give an idea about the scenario.
Finally, the best country to use for VPN Server is your own country. You will get optimum results according to the speed of your internet connection. Moreover, try to get a dedicated server having no bandwidth limitations for the better online experience.
2. What Type of Geo-Blocked Content will You Access?
The professionals have the experience of speed when they access geo-blocked content but my aim is to mention this for beginners or inexperienced users. For instance, you need to access content that is restricted in your country and you will need to access a server from a particular country where the content is available.
If you want to enjoy the real speed then choose the best country to connect the VPN server and get a server where your specific content is available without any restrictions.
3. The Server Allows P2P or Not?
If you want to share the files then the ideal server for you will be a machine with higher speeds that are closer to your home country. Try to buy a server that supports the P2P because P2P is not available in all the countries. There is a possibility that if you are buying your server and the location of your particular server is illegal for P2P.
It is a better approach to understand all your requirements before selecting any VPN because VPN providers optimize the servers for the type of traffic that is giving better results to the users.
4. How much Privacy Level is Needed?
Every VPN provides enough level of privacy as they use strong encryption/decryption methods and different protocols. If you want to increase the privacy level, you should go for servers that are using more secure protocols like IKEv2/IPSec, SoftEther or OpenVPN, etc. The server that supports only the L2TP/IPSec or PPTP is not privacy oriented.
Add extra privacy by choosing the server that supports the Tor traffic. Always try to get the services of a VPN provider who has a strict no-log policy.
Conclusion
“The More Servers, the Better” is a common myth (by review sites and others) about the highlighting of a bigger number is better when they talk about the VPN providers. Ask this question yourself – if you have a list of 100 servers or even more to choose from then will you use every single one of them? If you need to unblock a website without any other concern.
Another myth about the servers is “a large number of servers are not easy to maintain” also wrong. In the end, I would like to advise you to focus on your key requirements and select a Virtual Private Network with the required level of privacy. Get a dedicated VPN and enjoy the smooth online experience and try to consider these type of aspect that is important including:
- Encryption
- Log policy
- Bandwidth limitations
- Unlimited data transfer
- IP/DNS Leak Protection
- Customer support
Select a server from the list of best VPN Servers according to your particular needs.
Hammad Mohsin
When you are on the look for a good VPN service provider, you will need to consider many factors on the list of requirements. Among these is choosing a VPN with a good location.