The run and chase of social media tax evaders may be one of Government’s plans to take down all violators but not with VPNs trending on both the Apple and Google play store. While a few loyal subscribers have resorted to paying the newly introduced Social media tax, VPNs have since then shipped over to most smartphone wielding Ugandans and many on Twitter have claimed to have received free Air tickets to Russia and other countries. However, this has brought us to a clear analytical point of view and we are asking ourselves whether VPNs are really worth it or paying for the UGX 200 social media tax is the best way to go?
What are VPNs
Virtual Private Networks in computing are secure tunnels created for users to securely bypass and browse the internet from alternate locations, meaning they extend a private network across a public network. Thus Users can be able to send and receive data packets across shared or public networks through a secure tunnel to a VPN server.
In Uganda, VPNs are treated as social media gate passes without focusing on the dangers that may come along it in comparison to paying 200/= daily. We decided to compare these two services and you’ll be impressed with the results on whether to proceed with your VPN connection or eventually pay URA’s proposed UGX 200 tax.
VPNs Vs OTT tax
Price
Even among the most die-hard Twitter Gurus, the kind who swear by their digital marketing slogans and are usually on the proposing side of the co. The 200/= OTT famously known as the social media tax tax seemed hard for them with negativity flowing on the trending side of the #Socialmediatax hashtag on Twitter. Well, this is how both free and Premium VPNs (Cyberhost VPN experiment) rave-up with the URA 200/= tax.
| PLAN | OTT TAX (UGX) | VPN (Free) (UGX) | VPN (Premium) (UGX) |
|---|---|---|---|
| DAILY | 200 | N/A | N/A |
| WEEKLY | 1,400 | N/A | N/A |
| MONTHLY | 6,000 | N/A | 20,000 ($5) |
Cost
Borrowing a leaf from the general VPN prices as compared to paying the limited OTT tax. Cost on the other hand checks in as an ignored remedy if you are to compare the way both services work.
Assuming before OTT tax you could load 100MBs which go for UGX 1000 to surf and browse all the content you wish to lookup for, either by using the mother search engine or levelling up with your Whatsapp groupies with uninterrupted conversations. With a VPN, over 10MBs or so are lost in the upload/download process per hour using a basic free VPN due to data re-routing. However with the 200/= OTT tax, you shed at least 30MBs in return which cost approx UGX 300 or so.
From an Entrepreneur’s point of view, the cost of running a VPN is slightly higher compared to the OTT tax, in that the amount of data you’ll use to run a VPN for 24hrs will be approximately 50-70% higher than an OTT taxed package. Assuming you load 100MBs daily, the cost of running a VPN to access OTT services would increase your data expenditure to 150 or 170MBs with normal browsing different from a taxed package which would bring the equation to 100MBs + 200/=. We decided to load a 100MB Airtel bundle at around 1PM, upgraded 2 apps and went ahead to stick to the normal browsing behavior only to be surprised by a 100% data usage message by 3PM, Take a look.
The Equation:
OTT TAX
- 100Mbs= Shs 1000
- OTT tax = Shs 200
- Total = 1200 Shs for 100 MBs
VPN
- 100Mbs = Shs 1000
- 50/70Mbs = Shs 500 / Shs 700
- Total = 1500/= or 1700/= for 150Mbs
Speed
IT experts specifically use VPNs to connect remote offices and companies in a single click. However, the speed of your internet connection lies between your ISP facing SIM card and the telco’s internet servers. While 4G sim cards are selling like hotcakes at the UCC certified dealer points. Connecting to remote VPN servers in order to access blocked services will redirect your access speeds to the server side capped strength.
As most of these self-proclaimed VPNs offer superpower performance servers for connection, free versions cap your speeds depending on the connection time and data transmitted unlike paying OTT tax which doesn’t alter your ISP set speeds at any one moment in connection.
Security
Security wise, Your private information is safer in your hands than being trusted by any 3rd parties which asserts a better reason for the ever leaked socialite nude pics and Videos. Well, Government at one time teased to ship in a pornographic detector, but does this mean it has the power to spy on each and every message sent via OTT services? VPNs, on the other hand, are known for teasing the topmost security features keeping your information safe, although this comes at a price of upgrading to a premium package.
