The difference between Broadband, VPN and Proxy

Broadband

Broadband is a wide bandwidth data transmission with an ability to simultaneously transport multiple signals and traffic types. Even though information signals generally travel between 40% and 70% of the speed of light in the medium no matter what the bit rate, higher rate services are often marketed as "faster" or "higher speeds". 

Broadband service is defined as requiring transmission channels capable of supporting bit rates greater than the primary rate which ranged from about 1.5 to 2 Mbit/s by standards group CCITT in 1988. In the US National Broadband Plan of 2009 it was defined as "Internet access that is always on and faster than the traditional dial-up access".

On January 29, 2015 the FCC voted to update its broadband benchmark speeds to 25 megabits per second (Mbit/s) downloads and 3 Mbit/s for uploads. The 4/1 Mbit/s previous standard set in 2010 is outdated and inadequate, the FCC found.

VPN

A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network, such as the Internet. A VPN is created by establishing a virtual point-to-point connection through the use of dedicated connections, virtual tunneling protocols, or traffic encryption. A VPN gives a computer an IP address on a distant network. The VPN software will usually manipulate the computer routing tables to change the default route.

Generally speaking, there are only two types of VPN: the remote-access or connecting a computer to a network, and the site-to-site or connecting two networks. Remote-access is used inside one building only, while site-to-site is outside the office.

Proxy

In computer networks, a proxy server is a server (a computer system or an application) that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. Proxies were invented to add structure and encapsulation to distributed systems. Today, most proxies are web proxies, facilitating access to content on the World Wide Web and providing anonymity.

There are also different kinds of proxy servers, such as Proxy Servers (open servers), HTTP Proxy Servers, SOCKS Proxy Servers, Public Proxy Servers, Private Proxy Servers, and Web Proxies. Each of them has different methods of providing online privacy. 

VPN VS Proxy

By principle, VPN and proxy are the same. But VPN works differently which makes it more reliable than proxy sites. It is very important that you know they are the same and how they are different from each other.

Both VPNs and proxy sites hide your real IP address and therefore hiding your real identity. Your web traffic is being routed to a proxy server or VPN server. It will not appear as coming from your computer. A proxy site can be thought of as a web filter, so as a VPN.

But here's the main difference between VPNs and proxy sites in terms of reliability. Unlike VPN servers, proxy servers do not have to devote resources to encrypting all traffic that passes through them, and therefore can accept simultaneous connections from a great many more users (typically tens of thousands). VPN traffic is encrypted while normal proxy doesn't offer encryption. With this problem, proxies are not totally safe if you're in a region such as in the Middle East where there is a very strict Internet censorship. Similarly, using proxy while surfing the net in a Wi-Fi hotspot is not guaranteed Internet safety. A VPN service encrypts all of your traffic, replacing your ISP and routing ALL traffic through the VPN server, including all programs and applications.