Basic facts about VPNs

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, and is a technology first created by the US military. The technology came about because they saw a great need to be able to encrypt sensitive data that was sent via the internet. To help them, they took some of the world’s most talented encryptors and let them create what we today call a VPN tunnel.

What is a VPN tunnel?

A VPN tunnel is where all the magic happens, it’s where all your data becomes unreadable to anyone other than what was intended. It is called encryption, and there are many different standards of this. But roughly simplified, it means that two devices that should be able to send things between each other, encrypt the data first. So when the data is in the air, it is unreadable to others, but the two devices that should be able to access the information know how to decrypt the data.

Why should one use a VPN service for IPTV channels?

Most IPTV services that you will come across will be illegal ones. There are also legal variants, but for them you don’t need a VPN. The illegal IPTV resellers, on the other hand, get caught all the time, and their servers are constantly seized. When the police do these raids, they are very quick to try to extract as much information about the IPTV customers from the servers as possible. This they can then send to the prosecution and other relevant authorities who can use it as evidence. When such a raid happens, you simply don’t want them to find your IP address there.

With a VPN client, you can simply mask your IP address, so that no one knows that it is you who has been watching illegal streams. This is a very simple and cost-effective way to clear all your tracks after you. Neither the authorities, nor for that matter the IPTV resellers can now longer see your IP address.

How much does a VPN client cost?

It varies quite a bit in price between the different VPN clients on the market, but there are other things to take into account as well besides the price. Number one is of course how secure the service in question is, which can vary significantly between services. Another thing to consider is the size of their VPN network, as this will largely determine how quickly and effectively they can encrypt your data. This is especially important when we talk about encrypting live TV channels, as a small and slow network can cause it to lag throughout the broadcast. Normally, a VPN costs about 30-70 USD per year, depending a little on which VPN provider you use and the length of the subscription.

Which VPN app is the best?

We think NordVPN has the best VPN app on the market right now, and was our test winner when we tested the VPN services together with Safe IPTV Player. Everything was very easy from purchase to installation, and you are up and running in 2 minutes. Very impressed how easy to navigate they have managed to get their app, and has all the functions you could possibly need.

Best in Test winner is called NordVPN

We are not VPN experts at Safe IPTV Player, so we googled to see which VPN services we should test run together with our app. In one after another best of VPN service tests, NordVPN was their test winner, and we can only agree. They have among the absolute lowest prices, but also the largest number of VPN servers to choose from. This means that you get a fast connection so that you avoid delays in the transmission, but also an incredibly secure encryption of your data. NordVPN is completely unique in running a double-vpn encryption, which makes their VPN service the absolute safest service on the market.

Other VPN services we’ve tested

When we compared the different VPN services, we also tested services such as ExpressVPN, PureVPN, HMA (Hide My Ass), SurfShark, CyberGhost, IPVanish and Private VPN. Of these mentioned services, we found that only ExpressVPN and Private VPN also worked perfectly well for the purpose. However, none of these were able to stream completely without any lag at all, except then NordVPN.

Our final ratings on all tested VPN services

1. NordVPN – Best in test winner was not particularly difficult for us to choose. They have the best app, among the lowest prices (especially if you manage to buy when they run a promotion sometimes). For what you get, this is absolutely unbeatable.
2. ExpressVPN – This is also a good VPN, which also has a very large VPN network of servers behind it. This was the service that almost managed to also not lag during transmission. On some rare occasion, it lags a bit.
3. Private VPN – Very affordable VPN service that could have competed for first place if they had a slightly better app. We think they are capable of gallantly encrypting live stream IPTV without lag, but it falls on us that their app was a little more complicated.
4. PureVPN – A bit too much for this to be a recommendation from us at Safe IPTV Player. They have a very nice and easy-to-understand app, but they need to expand their network of VPN servers.
5. HMA (Hide My Ass) – Very similar to the other VPN clients we tested, but we think they’re a little worse than the others in most ways. We wish they had a slightly cheaper service, a slightly better app, but above all a faster VPN tunnel in the back.
6. CyberGhost – Here there is a lot of potential for improvement, and above all to make the app more user-friendly. We think it feels very messy when you enter the app, and it took us a while to get it working together with our app.
7. SurfShark – Here, too, there is a lot to polish, both in terms of UX design in the app itself, but also functions in general. That the app also shuts down sometimes doesn’t make it any better, and we experienced quite a bit of lag in the broadcast.
8. IPVanish – Arguably the worst of the ones we compared in our best VPN client test. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much good to say about this app, and we don’t think it’s even worth it for you to test it. Save yourself that time, and get NordVPN right away instead!