Starkville, Mississippi is the most populous city of the Golden Triangle region of the state. It has a population of approximately 25k. The town’s identity is very much tied to Mississippi State University. The school’s development and growth have made Starkville a marquee college town. If heading to the city is on your agenda, you’ll want to take advantage of the new urbanist areas as well as a few different art museums. You will also want to make sure you use a VPN before using public WiFi. We’ll tell you why in a moment. First though, please take a look at our best VPNs for Starkville list.
Not surprisingly, the Starkville area’s first settlements date back more 2100 years. Before European settlement, the Choccuma tribe inhabited the area. However, shortly before the US Revolutionary War, the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes united to wipe them out. Most of the Choctaw tribe surrendered claims to the land in 1830 and were removed in the next 10 years.
While mostly related to the college, there are some great things to around Starkville to do and see. That includes the U.S. Grant Presidential Library, the Cobb Museum of Archaeology, the Cullis & Gladys Wade Clock Museum, the Cotton District, the heritage museum, Wet N Wild Waterpark, and more. Of course, watching the Mississippi State University Bulldogs play is always a good time.
No matter what you choose to do while in the area, there is a good chance that you will take advantage of the businesses that offer free WiFi. Though it sounds great as an option, we suggest using a VPN. That is because there are cybercriminals lurking around. You can bet they would just love to get their hands on your vulnerable information. By using a VPN, you create a secure and private connection to a server you want to use. That will make it much more difficult for anyone to use your private data to their advantage.
If you have ever used WiFi and found a firewall, you may be able to guess the second use for a VPN. Schools, organizations, businesses, and even some countries will stop users from seeing things they deem as inappropriate. In this case, you’ll want to connect to a server in a different location. That makes the software think you are located somewhere else. Additionally, since your traffic is encrypted, the blocking software can’t block what it can’t see.
Now, you see the best reasons to use a VPN while in Starkville. Don’t be surprised, though, if you find others later. From protecting your data to getting around network and geo-restrictions, a VPN will help you out. There are a few things you need to know about VPNs first. With all of the protocol options available, you will want to use either the IKEv2 or the OpenVPN encryption protocols. Though IKEv2 is the preferred method, not everyone offers it as a primary solution. If you get an option to choose between different versions of OpenVPN, the UDP version is the fastest. However, the TCP version is suited for those with connection issues.
1. Best VPN for Starkville: IPVanish
Because the city is relatively small, we’ll use the Atlanta group of servers since they are the closest to the city. You will also find that IPVanish has more server locations in the United States that just about any other VPN service. This makes them our go-to VPN on a daily basis to use in Starkville.
| 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 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 Starkville: 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. This is true for Atlanta (since it is the closest major area to Starkville). 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 Starkville: 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 Amazon Prime video content in the US, Germany, or UK. 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 Starkville: NordVPN
NordVPN is based in Panama which some users prefer to using a VPN company that’s actually headquartered in the United States. You will find that NordVPN has a strong presence in the US with servers located throughout the country. Members have full access to their network in the USA and beyond for a very good price.
| 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 a longer term account. 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 the 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-monh membership.
5. Best VPN for Starkville: 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 (the closest region to Starkville). 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 7-day money back guarantee.
There are more options you can feel free to check out on our top 10 VPN services list. However, we think you will be just fine with our choices here. We made our decisions based on speed, reliability, price, security, and providers with servers located in the Starkville region. That way, you can get the best speeds. Of course, they all have great networks, so you can’t really go wrong. Speed is important if you plan on downloading or streaming any content. No one likes to experience buffering. The providers we mentioned above are the best options for doing that, no matter which popular services you want to use. By using our guide, you can make a decision that fits your needs.