Free Microsoft Edge VPN: What VPN Users Should Know

Microsoft is developing a free virtual private network service for its Edge browser, as stated by the company’s support page. Known as the Microsoft Edge Secure Network, the service courses Edge data through an encrypted tunnel to establish a secure connection, even when browsing non-secure URLs. This boosts security and safeguards the privacy of desktops, mobile devices, and sensitive data. Currently, Microsoft is previewing the service and collecting feedback before rolling it out.

Powered by Cloudflare, the Microsoft Edge Secure Network encrypts connections and prevents browsing sessions from being tracked. It blocks internet service providers from collecting browsing data, especially from sites that users would like to be kept private. This helps prevent data breaches when doing online banking or buying from online stores.

The Edge Secure Network also masks IP addresses and switches a user’s geolocation with a different regional address. This enables users to bypass website restrictions for region- or country-specific content. For instance, internet users can access the libraries of streaming services like Netflix or HBO for different countries. Similarly, foreign aspiring college students can access university websites that limit viewership to Western countries.

With this, Microsoft looks to draw more interest to its browser. After all, according to Statcounter, it only has a 4.07% global market share, compared to Chrome’s 64.36% and Safari’s 19.13% as of March 2022. And offering free VPN appears to be a sound strategy since virtual private networks are useful and widely used.

However, the free Microsoft Edge VPN service is not boundless. It limits its coverage to 1 GB of data monthly and requires users to sign on to their Microsoft account for tracking. The service also deletes support and diagnostic information every 25 hours.

A Need for VPN Software?

The free Microsoft Edge VPN service provides sufficient coverage for light internet users. One gigabyte should take care of regular fact-finding ventures for creating documents, web articles, and reports. However, for average internet use, the free service might not be enough unless used selectively per session.

An hour of internet browsing, inclusive of checking the news and shopping online, typically consumes 60 MB. On average, a person spends almost 7 hours on the internet daily, so a day would yield around 420 MB. As such, 1 GB accounts for almost three days of continued use. As for social media, scrolling for an hour merits the consumption of 90 MB while interacting for an hour consumes around 156 MB. Interacting on social media for 7 hours would already exceed Edge’s allotment.

The coverage is even shorter for those who intend to use Edge’s VPN for streaming. Viewing Netflix normally consumes 1 GB per hour for standard definition and 3 GB per hour for high definition. Likewise, watching YouTube videos consumes 1.56 GB per hour with 1080p resolution and 2.7 GB per hour with 4K.

The limitations of Edge’s VPN underscore the need for VPN services software, especially for business users. For a relatively small monthly fee, these platforms safeguard internet browsing for long periods, regardless of internet consumption. Moreover, some solutions support more than  30 server locations, furnish tools for tracking malware, and provide DNS leak protection, on top of military-grade encryption.

Nevertheless, the free Microsoft Edge VPN service comes as a worthwhile introduction to VPN for basic internet users. Once it is rolled out, users can access it by selecting “Settings and more” and activating “Secure Network.”