2015 was a big year for virtual private network services; with Hide My Ass and Express VPN paving the way for a fresh influx of server installations and IPVanish spending a little more time focusing on improving their security features – what can we expect from the most popular VPNs in 2016?
Stricter Security Policies
If there’s a genre that can cause controversy online, it’s security and confidentiality. In this day and age big brother states are becoming common place, and it’s now said that no activity online can go untracked – should the right people be behind the tracking. This is a terrifying concept and one that has plagued virtual network providers for years, and with new data sharing legislations coming into effect every year, we expect 2016 to hold a few of its own surprises.
Something that none of us are looking forward to is a possible expanse of US and EU laws relating to data handling. Currently, VPNs based in the United States and the United Kingdom are expected to comply with a host of data laws relating to their users’ interactions when browsing the web. As expected, this isn’t appreciated by the majority of the population; after all it’s a privacy intrusion. Hide My Ass have already been subjected to these policies, as have Vypr, but our sources tell us that due to the physical locations of both ExpressVPN and IPVanish – there won’t be cause for concern any time soon.
Server Upgrades
With more and more people accessing the World Wide Web on a yearly basis (currently 3 billion in fact), it is only expected that private network providers up their services, or risk suffering with slower server times. Slow servers means poor experiences for users, and so we’d imagine that upgrading any standing networks as quickly as possible will be a top priority.
Certain providers have already established new lines of connectivity (Express VPN) in particular. With the ever increasing demand for greater connections, will these improvements be enough? We’ve even heard talks of providers turning to the cloud to provide additional data storage solutions – something that Vypr already offers its customers. Unless the cloud ups its security however, it’s unlikely that our top VPNs will follow suit any time soon – instead facing potential delays unless a healthy medium is found.
Broader Reaches
Platforms like Hide My Ass boast just under 120,000 available IP addresses to date. That’s 120,000 potential customers being able to use their system at any given time. In terms of internet usage – 120k isn’t that high a number, and so we’d imagine a host of new features pending introduction to better expand these numbers.
A problem that many providers face is competition, and we’re sure that the bigger players will be introducing their own marketing strategies to better dominate the niche. This may spell the end of lower-level services, but that will open up the possibility of even greater customer bases for those that do manage to pull through.
Better Offers and Greater Discounts
It’s no secret that VPN services are battling for costumers, and this has already led some of the most generous discounts to come into play (consider the 57% offer from Hide My Ass towards the end of 2015). 2016 won’t be any different, and the cost of services decreasing on a monthly basis, we have no doubt that reliable VPN providers will offer a range of deals and offers.
The best way to take advantage of these offers is by checking back here often, as we’ll be keeping on top of the latest discounts and promotions – however frequently they happen. If you‘re quick, you will be able to enjoy 20% off of IPVanish subscriptions right now by using the code WAIT when purchasing your membership. This 20% applies to all packages too, so don’t miss out on the chance to take advantage.
Your Hopes and Expectations
The above are just a few of the changes that we expect to be introduced throughout 2016. As fellow users, we’d love to hear a little more about what you’re expecting for the year ahead. If you could change a few things about your favorite service, what would you like to have modified? We’re always reviewing the latest updates and services as they come out, and if you’ve discovered something about a provider that you’d like us to look into – let us know and we’ll test the feature or function out to share with our audiences.
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