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- Mozilla is lifting the 50GB monthly data cap on Firefox's free built-in VPN
- The offer includes 28 locations to browse from, up from the five standard set
- Everything reverts to the usual data cap and five locations on September 1
A free VPN built right into your browser is a rare thing, and for the next few months, Firefox is making its version even more appealing. Mozilla has announced that it is temporarily removing the data cap on its free built-in VPN, giving eligible users unlimited bandwidth for the summer season.
Until now, Firefox's free built-in VPN has handed users 50GB of free bandwidth each month. From now through August 31, that limit disappears entirely, so there is far more room to browse privately while you travel, hop onto public Wi-Fi, or connect from somewhere new.
On top of the unlimited bandwidth, Mozilla is also unlocking access to 28 countries to browse from during this period. A serious upgrade from its standard set of locations, covering only five countries.
It is a generous move for something baked into a browser at no cost, and a reminder that you don't always need to pay for one of the best VPN services to get a taste of private browsing.
What's new this summer
The headline change in the Firefox blog post is simple: the 50GB monthly bandwidth cap is gone for the summer, replaced by unlimited usage in Firefox from now until August 31.
During the promotion, Mozilla is also opening its network to servers in 28 countries to connect from, giving you a much wider spread of places to browse from than usual (Canada, France, Germany, the UK, and the US).
The additional countries available during the summer include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Norway, and South Africa.
The Firefox VPN isn't available everywhere. The browser only offers the feature in the countries Mozilla lists on its support page.
What the built-in Firefox VPN is, and how to use it
Mozilla launched the free built-in VPN with Firefox 149. It began as a beta for Firefox desktop users in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, with more countries planned over the following releases. The browser later gained location selection, letting users choose which country to browse from.
Unlike a traditional virtual private network (VPN) app, this one only covers your browser. Once it's on, Firefox routes your browsing traffic through its encrypted proxy network that swaps out your IP address before it reaches a website, so the sites you visit see the proxy's IP rather than your own.
Firefox already encrypts your traffic with HTTPS, and masking your IP adds another layer of privacy, which is especially handy on public Wi-Fi like the network at your local coffee shop.
The feature lives behind a toggle, and you can manage it any time in Settings > Privacy & Security > VPN. If a particular website misbehaves while the VPN is active, you can switch the VPN off for that site straight from the panel, or add sites to a list in advanced settings so they never connect through the VPN.
If you've been curious about trying private browsing without committing to a subscription, this is a good window to do it.
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