Phenquestions
When it comes to VoIP services, none are as popular as Skype. The reason for this is the fact that Skype is completely free to sign up for, and provides free calls to other Skype users as well. The reason that you might want to use a VPN is the fact that Skype is banned or restricted to a certain extent in some countries. This is either due to selfish ISPs doing so for personal gain, or the government banned Skype because it wouldn't be possible for them to monitor their citizens' conversations. VPNs can help you avoid this constraint.
Best VPN software for Skype
You can also use VPNs to make sure no one peeks into your conversations. For the above reasons, we have tested and compiled a list of the best VPN software for Skype available on the market that are completely free to use, and are the most reliable.
- Winscribe
- Hotspot Sheild
- ProtonVPN
- Betternet
- TunnelBear VPN
1] Windscribe
Windscribe is a much newer service on the scene as compared to other offerings on this list. But it also gets a lot right straight out of the box. If you go for the free version, you get 10GB of data per month. Not enough for you? Drop a quick friendly tweet about them and you might just get an extra free 5GB for that month.
If you encourage a friend to join, you get an extra 1GB for the month, and if that friend decides to upgrade his plan to Pro, then you are rewarded with their Unlimited subscription. Windscribe also has an excellent privacy policy, and you get access to servers located in 8 countries in their free plan. It also comes with strong encryption.
2] Hotspot Shield
Hotspot Shield is one of the most popular options available when it comes to VPNs, and with good reason. It comes with 500MB of data every day, which may not seem like a lot, but that means you get 15GB of data every month, and the 500MB means that you can stream about 40 minutes in SD every day. If you opt for the free plan, you can only access one server in the US, but upgrading gives you access to servers across 70+ countries.
The security that comes with Hotspot Shield is top-notch. However, the free version comes with advertisements from Google. In our opinion, the free plan serves the purpose of masking your identity and will suffice for a typical user.
3] ProtonVPN
ProtonVPN has a pretty sweet free plan with unlimited data that gets you access to the US, Japan, and Netherlands servers. It comes with military-grade encryption and makes sure that no one gets access to your activity. The servers are present in data centers with top-notch security. The only downside is the low bandwidth on the free plan. Despite the limitation, we didn't find any quality issues while video conferencing.
Upgrading to premium gets you unlimited bandwidth and access to servers across 40+ countries. There is no live chat support either. To get a query cleared up, you will need to email them or open a support ticket. The premium plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can try it out for yourself.
4] Betternet
Betternet is one of the lesser-known VPNs out there, but that doesn't mean they compromise anywhere. Like Hotspot Shield, it also comes with 500MB every day, which means that you get 15GB of data usage every month. The security is great and does a good job of protecting your private information from being leaked. You are greeted by adverts in the free plan, however. If this is your first time trying out a VPN, then Betternet is a great option to get started with.
5] Tunnel Bear
TunnelBear has to be my favorite VPN. It is easy to set up and lets you choose servers even in the free version. Tunnelbear claims to be the only VPN in the world that publishes security audits. Furthermore, it uses strong AES 256-bit encryption by default. The free version offers 500MB of data usage. Moreover, if you tweet about TunnelBear VPN then you will get additional data every month.
PS: See this post if VPN is not working on Windows 10.
Conclusion
When it comes to your online security and privacy, you should not cut any corners. However, there are now a lot of free services that give you some amount of security and privacy as their more expensive counterparts. These obviously have some caveats, but they get the job done, and if you just want access to Skype or any other VoIP software that has been banned in your country, these will definitely help you out in that regard.
Read next: How to set up VPN in Windows 10.
