SSTP VPN or Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol VPN is a new form of VPN tunnel that provides a mechanism to transport PPP or L2TP traffic through an SSL 3.0 channel. It is more secure than PPTP/L2TP and more difficult to be blocked by ISPs. Another advantage is that SSTP VPN works on 443 port, thus providing faster connections than most SSL VPN products such as OpenVPN.
How does a SSTP VPN account work?
When a computer connects to a SSTP VPN server a new IP address is assigned, an IP address that is owned by the provider. Then all of the Internet traffic is encrypted and is tunneled to the SSTP VPN server. Once there, it is decrypted and allowed to travel to its intended destination. The ISP only sees a single encrypted data stream between the computer and the SSTP VPN server on the 443 port.
Unfortunately, SSTP VPN only works on Windows Vista and Windows 7. In the future, probably more operating systems will provide SSTP compatibility.
SSTP VPN Providers
At this time, there are few SSTP VPN providers compared to those that offer PPTP, L2TP and OpenVPN. Here are some of them:
- IAPS Security Services – from $8.95/mo
- StrongVPN – from $7/mo
- PureVPN – from $9.95/mo
As many ISP block regular vpn connection in countries like Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE , SSTP VPN is a good solution for unlocking restricted web sites. The bad side is that it’s only available on Microsoft Operating Systems, Vista and Windows 7.
