Not only is Google the world’s leading search engine, it is also the corporation that owns YouTube — an extremely popular video sharing service, and develops Android — a highly successful mobile operating system. What’s more, the company offers its clients a wide range of niche services and applications. In fact, the fame of the corporation is so great that some of these niche services can be mistakenly believed to be meant for a larger market, which they are most certainly not. Google Cloud VPN is exactly the case.
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Google Cloud VPN vs. regular VPN services
Operation of regular Virtual Private Network services can be illustrated by an example of VPN Unlimited. Based in New York, this service offers users from any part of the world to connect to more than 500 Virtual Private Network servers in more than 80 locations. VPN Unlimited allows its client to access geo-blocked and/or censored content on various websites and streaming platforms. It also effectively prevents unauthorized third-party access to any sent or downloaded data by encoding it with military-grade AES-256 encryption. VPN Unlimited supports all kinds of operating systems and can be installed on a desktop computer, smartphone (either Android or iPhone) or integrated with a browser. These services can be used to access a private cloud storage; VPN Unlimited offers a free trial period and unlimited traffic.
A review of Google Cloud VPN services is impossible without mentioning Google Cloud Platform (GLP) — a suite of cloud services that can be used, among numerous other things, for data storage and analysis. GLP is pitched almost exclusively at corporations. One of its goals is to help companies to create a shared virtual workspace.
Google Cloud VPN services are used to secure the connection between remote users and the corporate workspace on GLP. In fact, Google Cloud VPN is an integral part of GLP. While a client of VPN Unlimited can use its services to access any website in the world, a client of GLP is an enterprise whose employees use Google Cloud VPN to access the corporate workspace.
Google Cloud VPN client: installation and configuration
Installation of VPN Unlimited is quite simple: the installer for Windows can be downloaded from the developer’s website, users of the Android platform can install the application from Google Play, and the owners of iPhone can find it on the App Store. All the client has to do is choose the server they prefer, after this they are free to access any website on the Internet they want.
It might sound surprising, but Google Cloud VPN — the subject of this review — is incompatible with Android smartphones. Neither is it meant to be installed on a desktop computer. The company that uses the services is supposed to install Google Cloud VPN on their router, this application then provides a secure router-to-router connection. Such installation is to be performed by an experienced system administrator. Corporations that choose to use GLP are normally large enough to have qualified IT specialists on their staff. On the other hand, an individual who will have no difficulties using regular Virtual Private Network services will simply lack technical knowledge to become a client of Google Cloud VPN.
Trial period and pricing policy
Most Virtual Private Network services on the market have a trial period, i.e. limited term when you can use the application for free. Google Cloud VPN, as any thorough review should mention, comes with no trial period. Market reputation of the corporation is so good, that it goes without saying that the quality of its services is — and will be — excellent, thus no free trial period is considered to be needed. In fact, Google guarantees its clients 99.9% service availability that can be further increased to 99.99% (for an additional charge).
When it comes to actual pricing, Google Cloud VPN is formidably more expensive than regular Virtual Private Network services. A monthly subscription for VPN Unlimited will only cost USD9.99 and an annual subscription is as low as USD59.99 (thus subscribing for a year is a viable option for saving money). These charges are actually so low that almost any individual can afford installing VPN Unlimited on their devices.
On the other hand, as calculated per month, Google Cloud VPN charges some USD1,700 per a single interconnect (time when a client is connected to the server). To reach the above-mentioned 99.9% service availability the company must use not one but two interconnects at once, thus the cost of the services is doubled. While the resulting amount looks truly astronomical if compared to the charges of a regular Virtual Private Network, it is not especially large on a corporate scale. Most middle- and large-sized companies can easily afford a broad spectrum of the services of GLP. Unfortunately, it is not so for private individuals.
The bottom line: what services to decide on
Android, Gmail, YouTube — all these are products developed by Google that are aimed both at individual and corporate users on a global-wide market. Their extremely easy-to-use interface and high reliability made them number ones on their respective markets. There are more Android smartphones than similar devices on any other platform, Gmail is absolutely free, and no one needs to read a review on how YouTube works because everyone uses YouTube and knows how it works from personal experience.
Google Cloud VPN is no Android and most certainly needs a review. It is an application meant for corporations, only usable with a high level of technical expertise that corporations have, and offered at a price high enough to be available almost exclusively to corporations.
If you are a representative of a corporation and need a Virtual Private Network for a shared virtual workspace, it is highly possible that you will benefit from using Google Cloud VPN. If you have a limited budget and need a user-friendly application to be free on the Internet and bypass any geo-restrictions, you are strongly advised to use the services of VPN Unlimited instead.
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