If you’re looking for the best VPN in Herat, NordVPN is one of the best options. It’s one of the few VPNs that work in Afghanistan, and it will not only allow you access to unrestricted Internet but also protect your privacy.
Afghanistan has one of the strictest Internet censorship in the world. Millions of sites and services have been blocked by the Taliban for containing “immoral” content. Furthermore, only a small part of the population can get access to the Internet. Those who do have access also have to be very careful because their activities are monitored by the government.
Like in other countries that have strict censorship, users use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to bypass restrictions and escape surveillance. You may be wondering whether VPNs are legal in Herat, Afghanistan, and surprisingly they are. Downloading one may be a bit complicated but you should not get into trouble for using one. However, this can change at any moment so if you choose to use a VPN in Herat, you need to keep yourself up to date with VPN legality.
Even if VPNs are legal in Afghanistan, choosing the best VPN in Herat may be difficult. Not all VPNs work, and you need to be particularly cautious when choosing one.
How to choose the best VPN in Herat?
To choose the best VPN in Herat that will not put your privacy in jeopardy, there are certain things you need to pay attention to.
- Security/Traffic encryption
Security is perhaps the most important thing to take into account when you intend to use a VPN in a country with Internet surveillance and censorship.
VPNs encrypt traffic and that is how they ensure privacy. Choose a VPN that uses reliable, military-grade encryption to conceal your data. The encryption algorithm used by popular VPNs is AES-256. It’s military-grade encryption, known for being practically indecipherable.
- Obfuscated servers and big server networks
If you want the best VPN experience, choose a VPN that has a big network of servers. Not only will the servers be less crowded, but you will also have more location options. This is particularly useful if you need specific rare locations.
Your chosen VPN also needs to have obfuscated servers. These types of servers conceal the fact that you’re using a VPN from your Internet Service Provider. Hiding VPN usage is not necessary when you’re in a country where they are legal. And while they are legal in Afghanistan at the moment, that can change at any time. So as a precaution, we recommend you hide VPN usage. When you connect to a regular server, your VPN usage is visible even if your ISP cannot see your traffic. However, when you use an obfuscated server, the VPN removes all traces of itself from your data. This hides the fact that a VPN is being used.
- Zero-logs policy
If you want privacy, use a VPN that has a strict zero-logs policy. Technically, VPNs can see users’ traffic but no decent VPN will monitor users and keep logs. A zero-logs policy means that the VPN does not collect any data related to Internet activities. What kind of data policy a VPN has is usually explained in its Privacy Policy. It’s a document we always recommend at least skimming through because it contains important information.
However, it should be mentioned that just because a VPN states it has a zero-logs policy and collects no information, it’s not necessarily true. The only way you can be sure is if the VPN has been audited by an independent party. Thus, only use VPNs that have been audited.
- Internet speed
When you connect to the Internet through a VPN, your Internet speed will either go up or down. If your Internet Service Provider is throttling your speed, connecting to a VPN will increase your speed. However, in most cases, Internet speed will go down. To what extent depends on many factors, including the VPN itself and the encryption protocol that’s used. However, the best VPN in Herat needs to be able to retain at least 80% of your original Internet speed.
- Additional features
Some VPNs also have additional features in addition to providing security and anonymity. You can find VPNs with adblockers, protection against malware, password managers, etc. If you use these features, using a VPN that has them would be more convenient, especially if you pay for them.
Our recommended option for the best VPN in Herat – NordVPN
While there are a couple of great options for the best VPN in Herat, NordVPN is what we recommend. It has everything necessary for a good VPN, including top-level security, complete anonymity, many server options, etc. And while it’s a premium VPN, it’s very affordable due to its discounts.
To encrypt and secure your traffic, NordVPN uses AES-256 and ChaCha20. This is military-grade encryption. Once your traffic is encrypted by NordVPN, it will become unreadable to all parties, including the Internet Service Provider. The VPN also has a kill switch to protect your IP address and traffic from leaking in case you get disconnected from the VPN while online.
In terms of servers. NordVPN has almost 6,000 servers in its network. Users can choose from 60+ countries and hundreds of locations. It also has obfuscated servers so you will be able to hide your VPN usage.
NordVPN gives you top-level privacy, even from itself. It does not monitor your online activities, nor does it keep any logs. It only keeps data that is necessary for account maintenance. The claims of no data collection have been backed up by the audits done by independent parties.
One of the things that makes it the best VPN in Herat is its ability to retain at least 80% of your original Internet speed. You shouldn’t notice any slowdowns when connected to NordVPN unless you have very slow Internet in general. You can switch encryption protocols in Settings to see whether a different protocol gives you better speeds but we recommend sticking to NordLynx because it’s why NordVPN is such a fast VPN in Herat.
For users who need additional features, NordVPN offers an adblocker, protection against malware, a password manager, a data breach scanner, and 1TB of cloud storage. Which features you get depends on which subscription you purchase.
If you want to use a free Herat VPN, you can use NordVPN’s free 7-day trial. While you need an Android device to initiate the trial, you can use the trial on all devices regardless of what OS they run as long as they support NordVPN. If you want a longer free Herat VPN, you can technically use the 30-day money-back guarantee as a free trial.
If you want to continue using the VPN after the free trial ends, you will need to buy a subscription because there is no other free Herat VPN version. Fortunately, there are great discounts available and they make the VPN more than affordable. If you use the discounts for long-term subscriptions, you could get a subscription for as cheap as $2.99/month.