Opera earlier this week released a new version of its browser, Opera 40, which comes with a free virtual private network service built in. The official roll out follows five months of user experimentation with a beta version.
When the VPN is turned on, it creates a secure connection to one of Opera’s five servers around the world, letting users spoof their IP address. Options now include two new virtual locations: Singapore and the Netherlands.
The VPN can be toggled on and off after being set up, and users can select their virtual location. Alternatively, the browser can be set to select the optimal server location automatically. In automatic mode, browsing through the VPN always proceeds at the maximum available speed, according to Opera.
VPNs can add overhead to a connection, and a VPN that’s on all the time may burn up a lot of data on a user’s data plan, Jude pointed out. It’s hard to connect with a VPN, and they tend to be slow because they simulate a dedicated secure pipe by encoding IP packets within a secure wrapper. “The wrapper consumes bandwidth — so you really don’t want to use a VPN on a slow connection.” Still, using the VPN “will be the purview of power users,” IDC’s Hilwa told LinuxInsider.
If it does take off, other browsers may follow Opera’s lead.