If you are an AT&T customer living in the USA, it is likely that the ISP is harvesting your web history and selling it to third parties. The Trump administration made it legal for ISPs to collect and sell your data, which means you need to protect yourself. An AT&T VPN protects you by concealing everything you do from your ISP using encryption. This allows you to torrent or do anything else without being tracked.
A VPN for AT&T also prevents the ISP from throttling your bandwidth. This ensures you get the connection speeds you pay for. In addition to providing privacy, a VPN will let you access international geo-restricted internet services. And it will let you use US services from abroad. In this guide, we list the best VPNs for AT&T.
What are the best VPNs for AT&T?
Below we have listed the best VPNs for AT&T as picked by our VPN experts. For more information about how we chose these VPNs, or for detailed summaries about each provider; keep scrolling.
- ExpressVPN - The best VPN for AT&T. It's super-fast, great for streaming, has apps for all platforms, and servers in 14 US cities.
- CyberGhost VPN - An easy to use AT&T VPN. It has terrific apps for all platforms, it's fantastic value for money, and has servers in 11 US cities.
- Private Internet Access - The most secure AT&T VPN. It has proven no logs policy, it's a US company. Servers in 14 US cities.
- Surfshark - The cheapest VPN for AT&T. It's loved by it's users, superb value for money , and has servers in 20+ US cities.
- VyprVPN - A great all-round VPN for AT&T. It has been fully audited to prove it's private, great apps, servers in 8 different US cities.
When curating our list, we took into account that each VPN has:
- Good security features
- Strong encryption
- Fast speeds
- Plenty of servers
But when all our suggestion possess these qualities, which one is best for you? Keep reading.
Best AT&T VPNs - In-depth Analysis
We take a closer look at the best At&T VPN services below. If you need any more information about the VPNs in the list below check out our more detailed VPN reviews.
ExpressVPN is the best VPN for AT&T. It's one of the fastest VPNs that we test, hams fantastic privacy and security features, and plenty of servers across the US and in 93 other countries. ExpressVPN is a provider based in the British Virgin Islands, putting it well out of reach of the NSA and the US government. This VPN has servers in 94 countries; including servers in 17 cities across the US, making it ideal for bypassing local restrictions to watch blackout games or to access internet banking. It also makes it perfect for bypassing international geo-blocks, with ExpressVPN standing tall as one of the few providers that consistently provides access to popular international services like Netflix UK, Netflix US, BBC iPlayer, and many more streaming services. With ExpressVPN, you get apps for all platforms that come with strong OpenVPN encryption, preventing AT&T from monitoring your web visits, selling your data, and providing information to the US government. This is backed with strong privacy-focused features, such as a kill switch, and DNS leak protection, allowing you to torrent without ever leaking data to any malicious actors. We love that this VPN has superb 24/7 live chat to help you at any time of day, and that you can use the app on 5 devices simultaneously. Overall, it's a superb service that you can test risk-free using its 30-day money-back guarantee. CyberGhost is an easy to use VPN for AT&T. It great value for money offering very cheap plans, provides excellent speeds, dedicated streaming servers, and servers in 11 US cities. CyberGhost is a VPN provider based in Romania - an excellent location for privacy. The VPN is great for beginners thanks to its simple apps for all core platforms, each packed with features you need to keep your online habits private. These include a kill switch, DNS leak protection, strong OpenVPN encryption, and a strict no-logs policy, meaning it can be trusted to protect your data at all times. A wide selection of quick servers makes unblocking content from the US and across the world a cinch, meaning there's no waiting around for the page to load or your stream to buffer. CyberGhost's value is bolstered thanks to its ability to unblock streaming services like BBC iPlayer, Netflix, hulu, and anything else you are interested in on up to 7 devices at once. The service is a bargain with how cheap it is, but you can take it for a test run using its extremely lengthy 45-day money-back guarantee on subscriptions longer than one month. And if you run into any trouble, support is available via live chat on its website. Private Internet Access is the most secure VPN for AT&T. It has proven in court that it doesn't keep logs on more than one occasion. It a US-based service with servers in 14 cities. Private Internet Access (PIA) is a VPN provider from the USA. This is a location we would usually be skeptical of with its intrusive stance on privacy, but PIA provides a zero-logs service that it has proven in court numerous times - something which places it in Reddit's good books. On top of this, PIA has apps for all platforms that come with advanced privacy features, including a kill switch, DNS leak protection, OpenVPN encryption, obfuscation, port forwarding, split tunnelling, and a SOCKS5 proxy. It has VPN servers in 47 countries, including a number of servers in the US - all of which provide lightning fast speeds for streaming or torrenting (which is permitted) across a staggering 10 devices at once. In addition, this VPN works to unblock popular services like Netflix US. We love that this VPN has apps that come with more advanced features than any other VPN in this list, making it great for techy users who need granular control over their encryption and other settings. We find it rare that this VPN gives us trouble, but should you run into any issues, the company now has live chat support set up and ready to go. Don't just take our word for it, though, try it for yourself using its 30-day money-back guarantee. Surfshark is the cheapest VPN for AT&T. It's jam-packed with features, so subscribers go crazy over it. They have severs in over 20 US cities and it's great for streaming. Surfshark is a service that customers come back to, and often praise. It is a no-logs VPN with apps for all platforms, packed with features like strong OpenVPN encryption, a kill switch, DNS leak protection, and obfuscation. This makes it ideal for gaining privacy both at home and on public WiFi, and means your privacy will be assured if the government comes knocking as AT&T won't be able to collect your data. We enjoy using Surfshark on all of our devices - and we can thanks to its unprecedented unlimited simultaneous connections. This makes the VPN truly excellent value for money and means that this VPN is great for any AT&T customer that owns a lot of devices (or larger families). It is great for streaming, as its lightning-fast connections and large choice of IP addresses across the US and the world over mean it can unblock more regional content than just about any other VPN - including BBC iPlayer, hulu, and various Netflix catalogs. If you want a VPN for torrenting, Surfshark also throws in a SOCKS5 proxy, which is great. We think this VPN is hard to beat, and if you need something cheap, this should definitely be your first choice. It even has amazing 24/7 live chat support! It's well worth testing using its 30-day money-back guarantee. VyprVPN is a great all-round AT&T VPN. It has been fully audited by a third-part to prove it's secure, is great for unblocking content, and has severs in 8 USA cities. VyprVPN is a provider based in Switzerland; a superb location for privacy services like VPNs to be based. It is a zero-logs provider that has had a full third party security audit of its apps and infrastructure. This means that the security of the platform and its no-logs policy has been verified. We enjoy using this app on any platform. The VPN has well-developed apps for all devices that come with a large selection of advanced VPN features. This includes a kill switch, DNS leak protection, obfuscation, and strong OpenVPN encryption. As a result, you can be sure that this VPN will provide privacy from AT&T and the government. VyprVPN has servers in 70 countries that can unblock popular services like Netflix, iPlayer, and anything else you might desire. To cater for US citizens it has a massive choice of US servers, and they all provide fantastic speeds for streaming in HD or video calling. And this VPN has great customer support (though it isn’t quite as good as some of our other recommendations in this department). Overall, we love this service, and we think it is worth taking your time to try it using its 30-day money-back guarantee. 1. ExpressVPN
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5. VyprVPN
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Why do you need a VPN for AT&T?
In 2017, the Trump administration signed measures that permit all US-based ISPs to harvest and sell user data without their consent. This allows AT&T to track every single website you visit to create a database about your online habits. The new rules allow AT&T to create a revenue stream from your data by selling it to any third party that wants it.
Because ISPs are storing that data long-term to sell it, they could also be approached with a warrant to supply it to the NSA or other government agencies. This creates the perfect environment for long-term mass data retention and surveillance.
Even copyright holders could theoretically pay for your web browsing history, to see if you have engaged in piracy. This could result in your receiving a court summons, or an out of court settlement notice that asks you to pay a fine to avoid being sued.
A VPN is an online subscription service that ensures that you are protected against all the snooping mentioned above. As soon as you have a VPN, AT&T can no longer harvest your data, meaning it can’t sell you out to third parties, or comply with government data requests and warrants.
It is also important to remember that the US implements gag orders. This means that the government could be harvesting your data from ISPs regularly and you would never know. A gag order forces a company to comply with government data requests while also keeping it completely secret.
If you are new to VPNs, check out our what is a VPN guide for an introduction to virtual private networks.
How does an AT&T VPN work?
A VPN protects your data and browsing habits from AT&T, and government snooping by encrypting your internet traffic. When you subscribe to a VPN, you will download VPN software for all of your apps. This software allows you to connect to a VPN server in any location around the world.
As soon as you connect to the VPN, the VPN software creates an encrypted tunnel between your computer and the VPN server. This tunnel ensures that your data is completely scrambled as it passes through your ISP’s servers so you can unblock websites from anywhere.
A VPN also proxies your DNS requests via the VPN’s servers. As a result, your ISP has no idea what you are doing online. It can’t make a database of your web habits, it can’t sell your data to third parties, and it can't tell the government what you have been doing.
What else can a VPN for AT&T do?
Besides protecting you from AT&T, a VPN will allow you to bypass any local network restrictions imposed by employers, schools, or WiFi hotspot providers. If your workplace blocks Netflix, Minecraft, Fortnight, or YouTube, for example; a VPN will let you bypass those restrictions without your employer finding out thanks to the encryption.
What’s more, by connecting to a VPN server in a different country you can bypass international geo-restrictions. This will let you gain much more freedom online. A VPN can allow you to unblock regionally restricted TV streams like the UK’s BBC iPlayer, or Australia’s Ten Network.
Ultimately, by pretending to be in a different country, you can access just about any regional content you want - including locally televised sports competitions!
And, if you happen to leave the US to go on vacation, you can connect to a US server to unblock Netflix US, online streaming platforms for your favorite TV channels, or American internet banking services. Head over to our Netflix VPN guide for more information about the benefits of using a VPN service to unblock the streaming service.
What features does a VPN for AT&T need?
Not all VPNs were created equally. There are dozens of services on the market and the vast majority are awful. For a VPN to be useful it must have excellent apps that provide the features you need. The VPN must be trustworthy, and it must be able to unblock the content you desire. Few VPNs tick all these boxes, which is why this article has done the hard work for you.
To give you complete transparency, we have provided the exact features and specification that we used when looking for VPNs. Below, you can take a look at the criteria our experts used to curate this list:
- A large network of servers worldwide.
- Fast VPN servers capable of HD streaming, video conferencing, and gaming.
- A no-logs policy. This ensures the VPN never stores any records of what you do while connected to the VPN.
- Military-grade OpenVPN encryption.
- A kill switch. This cuts your internet if the VPN accidentally drops out.
- Advanced VPN features such as obfuscation port forwarding, and split tunneling.
- Live chat support.
- Apps for all platforms.
- The ability to unblock Netflix and other sought after services worldwide.
- Value for money.
Why do I need to protect my web browsing data?
Numerous studies have revealed that your online web browsing habits can be analyzed to produce frighteningly precise secondary inferences about you. Even the most mundane of searches can reveal a lot about you when combined with your other searches.
Studies reveal that algorithms can figure out things like your age, sex, location, religion, political beliefs, sexual preferences, spending power, health status, and other sensitive details. This kind of information is extremely valuable and once it is online, it will end up being disseminated to data brokers and marketing firms (which are like lions to lambs when it comes to people’s data).
Data privacy experts agree that once your data has been harvested and disseminated online, it is almost impossible to completely clean up your digital footprints. It is for this reason that the idea of digital minimalism or obscurity is promoted. By refusing to allow companies to collect your data, and refusing to supply them with data, you minimize the digital footprints you leave behind.
Using a VPN removes a massively invasive part of this chain, because it prevents your ISP (AT&T) from being able to constantly monitor every single thing you do online. This is a vast reduction in the amount of data that is being collected about you (and potentially being sold to any third party willing to pay, or the government).
Can a VPN speed up my AT&T internet?
AT&T is known to engage in traffic shaping at times of high usage and network congestion. If AT&T notices that you are torrenting, streaming HD content, gaming, or doing other data-intensive tasks, it is possible that they will throttle your bandwidth.
When AT&T throttles your bandwidth, you cannot get the full connection speeds available to you. This alleviates congestion on the network to keep it running smoothly for other users. But it ruins your connection and makes downloading and streaming much harder.
A VPN provides encryption, which stops AT&T from being able to monitor what you are doing online. If AT&T doesn’t know what you are doing, they don't know that they should throttle you. As a result, you can do data intensive tasks without having your internet suddenly slowed down.
Can I use a free VPN for AT&T?
You may have noticed that there are some free VPN services available on app stores. However, if you want to use a free service you must be very careful. The vast majority of these services have concerning privacy policies that let them harvest your data to sell it to third parties. This is the exact opposite of what a VPN should do.
Studies have also revealed that free services have outdated encryption, critical VPN leaks, and have even been found to contain spyware. This is extremely concerning, which is why you must take care when choosing a free service.
The good news is that there are some free VPN services available on the market that are trustworthy. Our recommended free plans will let you get some limited use of a VPN. Those free plans can be trusted because they are provided by reputable VPNs that never skimp on security and have excellent privacy policies.
However, please bear in mind that a trustworthy free plan is only ever there to give you a taste for what a premium VPN can do. Those services hope that you will decide to pay for the full subscription. As a result, they have the following restrictions:
- Few server location
- Bandwidth restrictions to make the free version slower
- Monthly download limits to stop you using the VPN too much
The best way to get a VPN free trial of an unrestricted VPN is to subscribe to one of the VPNs in this guide. Our recommendations all have a money-back guarantee. This will let you trial a full premium VPN with all the bells and whistles, full speeds, and unlimited downloads, and get your money back if you want to.