When purchasing online, for me, there's always a kind of need to get the cheapest thing out there. I don't know a whole lot about technology, so when I buy, I buy cheap. Unfortunately, I frequently regret it, as when I signed up for my first VPN service. When I moved to China and realized I need a VPN to access blocked sites, I signed up for a month of VPN service. I think at that time is was something like 5 Euros (a European company) and I was shocked at how bad it went. I got cut off pretty much every time I signed in, the connected speed was slow and sites often timed out, and it was such a bad experience that I stopped using it because it wasn't worth the time.

So, because I needed the VPN to access my Facebook account and maintain my blog, I decided to upgrade from a cheap VPN to a medium priced VPN. This was a bit better. For about two dollars more a month, I signed up for a relatively cheap VPN service, with a decent name in the industry. Speeds were faster, setup was easier, support was good, and overall, I can say that I can't complain. The only problem was that my bandwidth was limited, which meant that I had to be careful about how much I used it every day, including how much I downloaded or how much video I streamed. Usually it wasn't a problem, but it was annoying to always have to be aware of singing in and out. Limited bandwidth is a common feature of cheap VPN services.

So then I went all out and started paying ten dollars a month for an unlimited bandwidth, unlimited server switching, servers in multiple locations around the world type VPN service which even came with live support. I have to say that the extra five bucks a month paid off. What time I wasn't spending for videos to buffer, or waiting on support to get back to me, or having to restart my computer because the VPN wouldn't connect for whatever reason would save me energy. Having a VPN service that works well really does make a difference in your Internet experience.

As someone who can afford and needs this kind of monthly fee for anonymous surfing, I can see the clear advantages of having a slightly higher priced VPN service. However, there is one main advantage to a cheap VPN service - price. If you haven't got the cash and plan on doing simple web browsing, then a cheap VPN will probably be fine.