If you read my post on Blockchains you know that banks are not on the top of my Christmas card list. Today I will talk a little bit about one of my other pet peeves. Subscription services. In particular, I will focus on VPNs, so I assume you know what a VPN is, and what they are used for. And if this is not the case tell me in the comment section and I will explain it to you there. =)
Paying for the same thing over and over
I have to clarify from the start that I am not against subscriptions in general. What I am against, is the trend that has been going on the last couple of years. Where you instead of buying the thing, have to buy a subscription for that thing. You then have you pay for that thing over and over and over again. And two of the biggest parties that have taken like a fish to water to this model, are Antivirus and VPN services.
Long gone are the days when you simply pay the normal one-time fee. You then get your Antivirus or VPN. And from that point on you simply would own it. Now instead you have to pay over and over again. Sure, I can understand that this way is far more lucrative for the companies. Compared to the old way of doing business. But to be honest, everything is starting to feel more and more like YouTube. Every company now is trying to get you to subscribe to this and that.
What can you as a consumer do?
The classic saying is that you can vote with your dollar. But is there really an alternative to the subscription model? I have looked but I have not been able to find one. That basically leaves us with only one option, the "free" alternatives.
While I will happily admit that I use a free antivirus, it has served me well over the past couple of years. I have not found a free VPN. That is not actually true. I have not found one that can live up to my needs. I have tried several of them, both plugins for your browser and the normal apps you download. All of them either pale in comparison to the versions you can get if you pay, or they are just a way to try and get you to pay for the full subscription. The VPN version of "the first one is free" if you will.
As I then look out over the desolate landscape of subscription services. I see movement on the horizon. What is that? A mirage? Or is simply my mind playing a trick on me? No, it actually is a new company entering the playing field. Their chosen way of entry was a crowdfunding campaign back in 2020.
Deeper Network
And who are they? They are a company called Deeper Network. And their first product was the Deeper Connect Mini. The world's first Decentralized VPN. It was successfully funded on IndieGoGo back in 2020. It is a hardware VPN, what it is is basically a small box you can plugin either before or after your router or modem. Depending on your setup. It will then do the same thing as you have come to expect from your normal VPN. It even will block those pesky YouTube ads for you.
And earlier this year they ran their second crowdfunding campaign, for their new Deeper Connect Pico. An even smaller device. That lets you do the same things as its big brother. But is much more portable.
Both of these use the same technology. And it is Decentralized Personal Network or DPN for short. Unlike conventional VPNs the DPN spread out your data over the network instead of in one central place. Also, nothing gets stored or logged, unlike what conventional VPN providers can do. This means that your data is much more secure because it is not logged or stored, there is nothing for people to find and get even if they wanted to.
And every new unit that gets connected to the network works as both a node and a server for the network. That means the more of us there are, the more secure each and every one of us is. The network has grown from 2000 nodes in 2021 to now having more than 70,000 nodes. Witch in only one year is a growth of over 3000%.
And both of them also have a 7-layer firewall, for that extra protection. All in all, it is one of, if not the, most secure VPN on the market.
Most people probably would not care about the VPN being hardware or software. As long as it is doing its job. But I will get back to this a little later, about why it matters in this case.
VPN now what?
Here you buy a VPN and you then get a VPN. There is no "we will take it back now that you stopped paying us" shenanigans. Just for a comparison, I did a little research. I looked at some of the most popular VPN providers, at their one-year subscription plans.
ExpressVPN - a one-year plan would cost you $80.04, and after that, if you missed canceling and changing it will cost you $155,4 for the second year.
NordVPN - a one-year plan will cost $59.42, and for the second year it $98.42.
Surfshark - a one-year plan there will cost you $44.90, and the second year $95.91.
And you can compare this to the Deeper Connect Mini and Pico:
Mini - This will cost you $349
Pico + wifi antenna - $248
Those numbers sure look much larger than the app VPN numbers... True, all true. It would take just over 3 years or up to almost 8 years depending on which one you buy and what VPN service you use. The upfront cost is higher. But here in lies the kicker. Because both of them are hardware VPNs. They have a built-in mining feature.
Say what? Yes, I will say that again. They actually will mine DPR tokens for you. Over time they will not only save you money because you do not have to keep paying for those pesky VPN subscriptions. But they will also mine DPR tokens for you. Allowing you to make money. This will allow you to break even much faster.
And as far as I know, no other VPN can actually earn you money. This works by the node sharing your bandwidth on the DPN. And for this, you then get DPR tokens in return.
Where can you get it?
You can get it at their store at https://shop.deeper.network/, and they are currently having a Father´s Day campaign. Where you get 50% discount. This Father´s Day discount will last until June 19th. It should give you just a few days to think and do your own research. If you are on the fence about it.
If you would consider using my affiliate link I also would be deeply grateful: https://deepernetwork.myshopify.com?sca_ref=2083420.FVpi0SglfV
You can also use the code: "DANIELJENSEN" in all caps all one word during checkout.
Again, I will be deeply appreciative if you did decide to use either my link or my discount code. If you decide to get one of course.
I hope that you can see why I have gravitated to Deeper Connect over other VPN providers. It is not simply my distaste for those pesky subscriptions, where you have to pay over and over again. I truly feel they provide something extra. That extra that I have not found anywhere else. As with everything else I do not recommend anything I do not myself do or have paid for myself.
If you would like to support me and the content I make, please consider using my affiliate link or code if you plan to buy your own Deeper Connect device. Or you can follow me, read my other posts, or why not do all of the above. =) You can find my other posts here and here.
I have also just started a new series of weekly posts, that will go live every Friday. You can catch the fifth step here:
How playing board games has helped me with crypto - My Journey to Financial Freedom
See you on the interwebs!
Picture provided by: https://pixabay.com/
