As millions of Britons swap their offices for working from home, engage in social distancing or adhere to self-isolation instructions, RingVPN has today announced it will make its virtual private network service free for at least 90 days and will extend if outbreak peak is longer.
RingVPN has brought forward its planned launch in May to help internet users in this unprecedented time. Its offer of the normally paid service for free follows an upsurge in enquiries from the public asking how a VPN could make working and staying at home more bearable in the coming weeks and months.
Of the more than 5,400 enquiries fielded by RingVPN, common questions asked were how a VPN can provide online protection against fraudsters and how a VPN provides internet users with access to a wider selection of home entertainment during the coronavirus outbreak.
In particular, during the last 24 hours RingVPN received almost 2,500 queries about the capabilities of its US servers and how the VPN can help them access Netflix content from the USA. Evidently, the public are looking to access a wider variety of entertainment and streaming options than UK content platforms alone offer as they face an uncertain amount of time at home.
Additional queries related to online security, with over two-thirds of those that contacted RingVPN having never previously worked from home and keen to know how to keep their work and personal information secure online. VPNs provide guaranteed anonymity, protection from malware and hackers and data privacy whenever used.
The other popular query sent to RingVPN over the last 24 hours related to Italian server access, with almost 900 people asking about the number and strength of servers RingVPN has in the country. This reflects a massive 4,500% increase in Google searches for Italian VPNs* – potentially a reaction to PornHub offering Italians free subscriptions to the site during the national lockdown.