The security measure - focused host house WiTopia has add up a bonus to its practical individual networking ( VPN ) service — a separate , barren business relationship for use with the iPhone or other devices .

WiTopia ’s personalVPN servicecosts $ 39.99 per year , and allows any user to make an encrypted tunnel that protects their data in transit over local mesh . The overhaul requires the installation of a special software software , make it in the first place utilitarian for Mac OS X and Windows laptops . The additional chronicle exploit on a broader array of equipment , let in the iPhone , by trust on a built - in VPN client .

VPN connexion create a form of encrypted burrow between two points : All data entering or leave a calculator with a VPN client installed and activate are scrambled between the client software system and a VPN server elsewhere on the net . This prevents data from being intercepted on a Wi - Fi web or another untrusted web , like a college campus system , where other users can sniff for passwords and personal information sent as plain text edition .

Three popular form of VPN prevail the market , including PPTP ( Point - to - power point Tunneling Protocol ) , L2TP - over - IPsec ( Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol over IP certificate ) , and a variety of SSL / TLS ( Secure Sockets Layer / Transport Layer Security ) protocol that are lumped together .

TheiPhoneand Mac OS X palm PPTP and L2TP - over - IPsec natively , but WiTopia chose to use SSL / TLS for its VPN support . This requires the induction of a small software software and digital credentials , an impossibility on the iPhone at the moment . WiTopia co - founder Bill Bullock said that the service , while marketed for iPhone drug user , will ferment with almost any twist . The SSL / TLS and PPTP VPNs can be used at the same time by the accountholder .

The iPhone debuted this summer with some flaws and limitations to its VPN support . In version 1.0.2 and in the first place , for instance a glitch prevented the entranceway of a VPN password after the initial setup that had anything but numbers and sure punctuation mark marks in it . Last month ’s iPhone 1.1.1 package update fixed that , allow full alphanumeric countersign entry .

WiTopia is part of a diminished solidification of firms that compete for security measures - witting user who do n’t work for business firm that offer collective VPN service . competition includepublicVPN , which offer both PPTP and L2TP - over - IPsec service ( $ 5.95 per month or $ 59.95 per year ) .