| Rank | VPN Service | Our Score | Server Locations | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | 9.8 | 73 |  |
| 2 |  | 9.6 | 160 | |
| 3 |  | 9.2 | 110 | |
For thousands of years, Native Americans settled the area now known as Tuscaloosa. After the war of 1812, European settlers to the area named it in honor of Chief Tuskaloosa, a 16th-century leader of the Muskogean-speaking tribe. When Alabama became a state in 1817, the legislature incorporated the city of Tuscaloosa.
These days, there are several things to do while in the city. That includes visiting the Alabama Museum of Natural History, the Childen’s Hands-On Museum of Tuscaloosa, Mercedes-Benz US International Visitor Center and Factory Tour, the Riverwalk, Lake Lurleen (named after former governor Lurleen Wallace), sports events at the university, and more. Unless you live under a rock, you know that watching an Alabama football game is an experience.
Despite all of the activities available in the city, it is likely that you will find the time to use public WiFi. Fortunately, many establishments offer free WiFi to their patrons. While that is a great thing for them, it is also a good thing for cybercriminals. By using a VPN to protect your privacy, you create a secure and encrypted connection to the server you want to use. That means you make it much harder for them to compromise your sensitive data.
The next reason you may want to use a VPN is to help you get around geo-restrictions. For those unsure of what those are, we’ll explain. Have you ever been blocked from viewing a website, based on where you are? It is common for schools, businesses, organizations, and even some countries to block their users from seeing content by using a firewall. When you use a VPN, you make the software think you are somewhere else. That way, you can browse as you normally would.
Those are the best reasons to use a VPN, however, you may discover other uses as time goes on. Whether you want to protect your privacy or get around geo-blocks and restrictions, using a VPN is a good idea. No matter which service you choose, there are a few things you need to consider before choosing.
To begin with, VPNs use encryption protocols to protect their members. The OpenVPN protocol is the best option to choose, and you will want to do so whenever possible. Almost every single provider will offer you that option. While some providers will offer you a choice a TCP and a UDP version, both will do their job as intended. The difference is that UDP is the fastest. That is important if you are trying to stream any higher-end content. If you have connection issues, TCP is a better option for you.
1. Best VPN for Tuscaloosa: IPVanish
Tuscaloosa has a good economy and is a hub for medicine, technology, and more, but it does not have its own server locations. Because of that, we’ll select a server in Atlanta (because it is the closest major city). We use the IPVanish servers in Atlanta all the time since our office is in the area. We can tell you from experience that the servers in Atlanta are both fast and reliable. You will also find that IPVanish has more server locations in the United States that just about any other VPN service. This makes them a great option to use.
| Countries | Locations | USA Server Locations |
|---|---|---|
| 63 | 89 | Ashburn, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Phoenix, San Jose. Seattle, Washington DC |
Along with a large footprint in the USA, IPVanish hosts servers in every continent other than Antarctica. The network has consistently been the fastest VPN in North America and Europe in our speed tests. You will find multiple server locations in countries like the US and UK. You can select a location or an individual server.
IPVanish hosts 48 servers in Atlanta (again, because it the closest city) and you can choose to connect to any of them. We suggest selecting one that starts with “a” in the server name. For example atl.a01.ipvanish.com. In most cases, you will find the “a” servers to be the fastest. We tested an IPVanish server in Atlanta and found the speed to be 63.76 Mbps on our cable Internet connection that maxes out around the same speed.
When it comes to value IPVanish is hard to beat. They offer unlimited access to their VPN network and custom software for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Amazon Firestick and more for $7.50 a month or $58.49 a year. That works out to just $4.87 a month on the annual plan. Members are covered by a 7-day money back guarantee.
2. Best VPN for Tuscaloosa: ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN brings together fast VPN access with MediaStreamer which acts as a Smart DNS service to unblock access to geo-restricted content. The service will help encrypt your connection and unblock live sporting events. You will even find a list of the latest live entertainment and sporting events on their website.
| Countries | Locations | USA Server Locations |
|---|---|---|
| 94 | 160 | Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New Jersey, New York, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Monica, Seattle, Tampa, Virginia, Washington, DC |
As you can see in the table above, ExpressVPN manages a very large VPN network. Beyond the USA, the ExpressVPN network boasts of hundreds of servers in key locations to help protect their user’s privacy. You can use their network to protect your privacy, unblock censorship, and watch your favorite teams from anywhere.
The ExpressVPN app allows you to select a server location down to the city but you can not choose a specific server. Instead, the client will select a server in your chosen location. You also need to know that some cities are not shown on the recommended tab inside the client. That is true for Atlanta (since it is the closest major city). You will want to select the “All” tab, open Americas, and then open United States. At this point, you can select the USA – Atlanta server location. As you can see we tested a server in Atlanta and the speed was 58.49 Mbps.
While ExpressVPN is sold at a higher price point than the other services in our list, the value is high given the size of their network and service features. You can connect a computer, handheld device, router, and game console (SmartDNS) with a single VPN account for just $6.67 a month with an annual subscription.
3. Best VPN for Tuscaloosa: CyberGhost VPN
CyberGhost was founded in 2001 by 7 enthusiastic young team members in Bucharest, Romania. Since that time the company has grown into one of the largest VPN services in the world. The team of 50+ members is focused on protecting users privacy. Robert Knapp, co-founder and CEO, continues to lead the team even after they joined the Crossrider group in 2017. Since that time the CyberGhost network has expanded quite a bit.
| Countries | Locations | USA Server Locations |
|---|---|---|
| 60 | 80 | Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC |
CyberGhost offers a nice mix of server locations, strong encryption, and the ability to unblock popular streaming services like Netflix, YouTube Red, and Amazon Prime. Some of the channels even let you unblock geo-restrictions for multiple regions. For example, you can access Netflix content in the US, UK, Italy, Germany, France and Japan. The Windows client also gives you the option to surf anonymously, protect Wi-Fi, torrent anonymously, unblock basic websites (Google, Facebook Instagram, etc.), and choose a server.
Since we wanted to test a server in Atlanta, we opened the Windows client and clicked on the “Choose My Server” option. From there you can expand any country and select a specific server. The CyberGhost network includes 8 servers Atlanta. We connected to one of them and tested the performance. As you can see our download speed was 57.65 Mbps which is right in line with the other services in our list.
The CyberGhost VPN client is one of our favorites. It is very easy to use and includes a number of advanced features to help protect your online privacy. They have a development team in Germany that is continually adding features to the client and mobile apps. You can sign up for full access to the CyberGhost network from just $3.50 a month during their current promotion.
4. Best VPN for Tuscaloosa: NordVPN
| Countries | Locations | USA Server Locations |
|---|---|---|
| 61 | 80 | Atlanta, Buffalo, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Jose, Seattle, St. Louis, Washington DC |
You will find that NordVPN has perhaps the best mix of services for the price if you subscribe to longer-term accounts. All users have full access to their network and custom software. You can connect using the VPN client for Windows or Mac. They also have an easy-to-use mobile app for both Android and iOS (iPhone, iPad) devices.
NordVPN hosts 39 servers in Atlanta. Unfortunately, the NordVPN client does not show the city of the server. However, they have kindly provided us with the server numbers for Atlanta. You will want to connect to one of the following servers: 369-372, 561-568, 665-676, 681-684, 940-955. The easiest way to select a specific server number is to select the “Servers” tab in the app and then sort the results in alphabetical order. You can then scroll down and select any of the server numbers we have listed above. You can see the load time percentage and the distance to each server. We tested the United States #370 server in Atlanta and found the performance to be quite good with a download speed of 60.11 Mbps.
Want to access streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or BBC iPlayer from anywhere in the world? If so NordVPN is a great choice. They are one of the only VPN services that can still unblock Netflix. You can sign up for unlimited VPN and SmartDNS service from just $3.99 a month with a 24-month membership.
5. Best VPN for Tuscaloosa: StrongVPN
StrongVPN is headquartered in the United States and has one of the best VPN networks in the country. In the past, the company charged users based on the number of server locations and protocols they used. That has changed as StrongVPN now offers members full access to their network with hundreds of servers worldwide.
| Countries | Locations | Servers | USA Server Locations | Software | Monthly | Yearly | Refund |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 43 | 600 | Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC |  | $7.50 | $52.49 | 7 day |
The latest addition to the StrongVPN service is the StrongDNS feature. Everyone who signs up for a StrongVPN account also receives free access to StrongDNS which is a smart DNS service used to circumvent geo-restrictions. It is a great solution for those who plan to travel outside the USA and want to access Netflix.
StrongVPN hosts 20 servers in Atlanta. You can not select a specific server. Instead, you will want to click on the server location drop-down and choose United States – Atlanta. We selected OpenVPN UDP for the best performance. After connecting to a server in Atlanta we tested our speed and found it to be 59.97 Mbps.
StrongVPN has been kind in offering our visitors a 25% discount. The coupon stacks on top of their normal term discounts. You can enjoy unlimited VPN and free SmartDNS access for just $7.50 a month or $52.49 a year. The annual account works out to just $4.37 a month. New users are covered by a no opener money back guarantee.
You can always find other options if you take a look at our top 10 VPN services list. You probably won’t need to do that, though. We chose our options based on speed, reliability, price, and security. We made our choices because of providers that have servers located near the Tuscaloosa area. That way, you’ll find the best speeds. In our choices, all of the providers have great networks and are all well-known. You need good speeds if you plan on streaming content at all. No one wants to see delays because of buffering. Be sure you choose a provider with a good reputation. With our help, we can help inform you of the best options.