As we get ready to ring in the new year, this is a time to reflect on 2016 and plan for the year ahead. Many people make New Year’s resolutions. Rather than go with the ever popular join a gym that normally ends within a few weeks I encourage you to consider something different this time around. With the increased rise in online fraud and attacks you should take a moment to plan for a safer 2017. Make sure you’re using strong passwords and not repeating them across websites. Make use of multi-factor authentication whenever possible. You will also want to encrypt your Internet traffic with a VPN. IPVanish is celebrating New Year’s by offering 20% off the first billing cycle. That means that you can sign up for a full year of VPN access for just $5.19 a month.

Visit IPVanish.com and sign up using promo code NEWME2017 between now and Jan. 11th to save 20% off the first billing cycle.  That means you can enjoy a year of unlimited VPN access for just $5.19 a month.  That’s a good offer from a leading VPN service.  They have kindly extended the promotion to our guests through January 11th so please share it with your friends and family so they can take advantage of the offer as well.  During the New Year’s promotion you can enjoy a full year of VPN for $62.39 which works out to just $5.19 a month.  That’s just over 17 cents a day to help protect your online privacy.

There are plenty of VPN deals going around so I want to be clear that this isn’t an offer from a company that’s new to the market.  IPVanish has held the top position in our VPN rankings (and those of most other review sites) for a long time now.  In my opinion they are the best of the best.  You will be hard pressed to find another VPN provider that offers the same level of service for a price comparable to IPVanish.  If you include the 20% off promotion they are priced below most the other top providers in the market.

I’ll give you a quick rundown of the service.  You can read our IPVanish review to learn more about the service.  IPVanish manages a top tier network of 400+ servers in over 60 countries around the world.  The fact that they manage their own network gives them more control than just about every other VPN service out there.  It gives IPVanish a speed advantage over the rest of the market as well.  They consistently rank the highest in our speed tests for a wide range of server locations in North American and throughout European.  Members have full access to their client software for Windows, Mac, and Linux.  Along with mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.  Connect on up to two devices at a time.  Better yet, you can configure your router to connect to IPVanish and protect your entire network with a single VPN account.  They even have a guide to help you set it up DD-WRT and Tomato routers.  That’s a great way to protect your entire family by encrypting everyone’s connections.  Remember to visit IPVanish.com by January 11th, and enter promo code NEWME2017 to save 20% off and enjoy unlimited VPN from just $5.19 a month.

What better way to protect your new gadgets than with a subscription to a well known VPN service like StrongVPN. With the Christmas presents open and New Year’s ahead, our friends over at StrongVPN are running a White Hot Winter promotion. Starting today you can take 40% off any plan. The savings stack so you can enjoy unlimited VPN and SmartDNS access from just $3.49 a month. Earlier this month the StrongVPN team added their popular StrongDNS service to their VPN plans so you get the best of both worlds.

StrongVPN is well suited for those who want to protect their online privacy and those who want to unblock geo-restrictions. The combination of VPN and SmartDNS makes the service quite powerful. For example, we use their VPN network while traveling and the SmartDNS service to avoid blackout games and watch content in other countries. The difference between the two comes down to encryption. The VPN will encrypt your connection which keeps your data secure and communications private. In contrast, the SmartDNS service runs at peak speed to unblock contect in other regions. Use it when you don’t need the privacy protection of a VPN.

Let’s take a quick look at the special pricing StrongVPN is offering during the White Hot Winter Sale:

StrongVPN normally costs $10 a month or $5.83/mo. for a full year of service. As you can see the cost have been discounted 40% off the regular pricing. You will also notice that the annual plan was discounted 41% in addition to the normal term savings. That means you can enjoy unlimited VPN and SmartDNS access for just $3.49 a month. We highly recommend the annual plan for the best possible price on a great VPN service. Remember that you can protect all your devices from PC, Mac, iOS, and Android with the StrongVPN software.

To take advantage of the offer simply visit the StrongVPN White Hot Winter Sale page and enter coupon code WHITEHOT during checkout. You can read our StrongVPN review to learn more about the service.

OverPlay is celebrating Boxing Day with a promotion that exceeds anything we’ve seen them run in the past. That includes Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Everyone who signs up during the OverPlay Boxing Day Sale this week will receive SmartDNS + VPN for the price of SmartDNS alone. That means instead of paying $9.95 a month you can enjoy both the privacy protection of a VPN and the fast unblocking of geo restrictions through the SmartDNS for just $4.95 a month. Those who sign up for an annual account during the sale will get both services for just $4.16 a month. That’s by far the price price we’ve ever seen from OverPlay.

Let me take a moment to explain how Smart DNS works fr those who are new to the technology.  When you use a SmartDNS service like OverPlay it masks your IP address so thata popular streaming services like Sling TV and channels like BBC iPlayer (a great site for the live sports) think you’re eligible to access their content.  I don’t want to confuse anyone.  Some sites are free to use like BBC while you’ll still need a paid subscription to services like Netflix and Hulu Plus.  The magic of SmartDNS is being able to access popular sites and services from anywhere in the world with the geo-restrictions that would otherwise block your access.

Now let’s specifically look at how OverPlay stacks up to the competition.  I use them and would highly recommend both their SmartDNS and VPN services.  The difference between the two technologies is encryption.  Their VPN service will encrypt your data along with masking your geo location.  The VPN adds a layer of privacy protection but the encryption will slow down your Internet connection just a bit.  In contrast, SmartDNS will unblock the geo-restrictions without any speed loss.  OverPlay will help unblock sites like Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, BBC iPlayer, iTV Player, Pandora, Facebook, Twitter and more.

As you can see, having access to both VPN and Smart DNS service will give you the privacy protection when you need it and open access to geo restricted content regardless of where you might travel in the future. You can read our OverPlay review to learn more about their service. Remember to sign up during their Boxing Day Sale to enjoy SmartDNS + VPN from just $4.16 a month.