TunnelBear App – Free VPN for Traveling

        Tweetvar fbShare = {size: ‘small’,}         
(function() {
var po = document.createElement(‘script’); po.type = ‘text/javascript’; po.async = true;
po.src = ‘https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js’;
var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s);
})();

If you take a peek at the top right hand corner of my blog, you’ll read a little bit about me, and then you’ll see that I’m a World Traveler.  I’ve been to some posh places and to some down right scary ones.  My family tends to be frugal when traveling (which is why we’ve been able to go to all the places we’ve been), and so we’ll only connect online outside the United States if we can get free Wi-Fi.  The thing is, one is always leaving themselves vulnerable when using a public Wi-Fi network.

No matter what the hotel staff says or the local faux Starbucks café, I personally won’t hedge my bets that there isn’t someone three tables down or at the end of the lobby who is trying to intercept my data.  So I’ve gotten into the habit of securing my online activity by using a VPN (a virtual public network).  What a VPN does is send and receive data across shared or public networks as if it is directly connected to a private network.  In this way you can protect your personal browsing and identity.  If I have to access my banking info or log-in somewhere, I am far less paranoid about doing so.

I’ve used different VPNs in the past, but I was recently introduced to TunnelBear and I’m impressed with both the ease of use and functionality of this VPN app.  The screenshots below are from the iPad app.

Here’s the reason why TunnelBear is different than other VPNs I’ve used – you can connect to it as if you were in a different country, nine of them in fact!  Say What?!  Just like the Chunnel connects France and England, well with just a tap of a location in your VPN settings on whatever device you have TunnelBear installed on, you can “tunnel” yourself virtually to Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, United Kingdom or the United States.  The bear part of the name…well that’s just fun.

And why do you care about that you ask?  Well let’s say you’re on vacation in Australia and you just cannot wait until you get home to see the latest Game of Thrones episodes you DVR’d while you were diving the Great Barrier Reef.  So you’re relaxing in your hotel room at night and you boot up your HBOGo app and you’re “DENIED,” all because you’re upside down instead of state side.  Ahhh, but with TunnelBear just set your VPN to the United States and HBO has no clue you’re throwing boomerangs and eating Vegemite for breakfast.

I really wish I would have known about this prior to and during the Winter Games.  I was trying to stream some Canadian events on my computer but couldn’t 🙁  (There’s nothing worse than a Canadian expat that can’t watch themselves some curling, except maybe one that can’t watch curling and doesn’t have a Double Double, Timbits or a Coffee Crisp on hand).  If I had known about TunnelBear then, I could have switched my VPN to Canada and pulled the toque over CBC TV’s eyes!   (shh…don’t send the Mounties after me.)

Okay, so now that you know WHY you want TunnelBear, here’s HOW to download TunnelBear.  Just go to their website and find the version you want to install (for desktop Windows/Mac, Android and iOS).  After you’ve downloaded it, you just set up a free account, verify your e-mail, choose which country VPN you’d like to connect to from the settings and switch it on.  It’s just that easy!

Here are some videos to show you just how simple it is to install TunnelBear no matter what device you want to install it on.

The free version of TunnelBear (the Little plan) allows you to use 500mb of Data every month.  Which is perfect for those that are out using public wi-fi connections occasionally.  But as an added bonus you can tweet once a month and ask them for extra data and you will be rewarded with an extra 1GB!  They also have two paid subscriptions one (the Giant plan) at $4.99 a month for unlimited access that you purchase for your desktop and then allows unlimited data on two mobile devices as well! And the Grizzly plan which is the same plan as the Giant, but you pay for it all at once for $49.99 for a year, which saves 17% over paying monthly (those bears, who knew they were so frugal?!).

Right now I’ve only used TunnelBear on my mobile device, but I’m definitely planning on downloading it on my laptop as well for the next time I travel so I don’t have to worry about logging on to work in airports or hotels.  I mean, who wouldn’t feel confident with a big brown bear keeping watch over them?

Do you use a VPN service to keep your information protected on a public wi-fi connection? Let me know if you download TunnelBear and what you think of it.