Best VPNs for Estonia

The free and open-minded state of Estonia overcomes online barriers, too. Freedom House describes the country as “a model for free and open internet access” since there are very few restrictions on content. Laws were also established to protect users’ data and ensure that e-Estonia remains open and neutral, where citizens can use social media, VoIP services and VPNs without concern.

There are slightly over 1.3 million people in the small Baltic paradise, but the state of the internet in Estonia is considered to be one of the best of the region. Building up a broadband penetration rate of more than 87%, the country has focused on delivering high-speed connections as much as possible without ignoring the widespread use of mobile devices with internet access. For instance, Freedom House reports that one of the objectives of the government was having “at least 30Mbit/s mobile internet in all of Estonia by 2020”. This was successfully achieved in 2016 and 37% of Estonia was even already enjoying 100Mbit/s mobile speeds at the time. In terms of Wi-Fi, 4G speeds can already be obtained in 99% of the country.

As such, an Estonian IP address benefits from great speeds and free access to Google, Facebook and YouTube, which are some of the nation’s most popular websites. Likewise, VoIP services such as Skype, messaging apps like WhatsApp, streaming services and even VPNs are all legal and free to use without restrictions.

On top of fast and free internet, in Estonia there is also strong privacy protection for online users as well. Collecting and publicly spreading people’s personal data was restricted in 2008 by the Personal Data Protection Act, which also forbids processing sensitive information without people’s consent. This includes political opinions, religious beliefs, ethnic or racial origins, and more.

Also, in this aspect it’s important to remember that Estonia is part of the European Union, so just like all the other member states it must obey its shared regulations. One of those is the General Data Protection Regulation, for instance, which came into effect in May 2018 to ensure that all services that handle personal information notify their clients and receive permission before user data can be shared with third parties for delivering alternative products. The country also obeys the data retention principles of the EU and requires that collected data is kept for one year if no valid government argument – such as maintaining public order or national safety – requires it to be kept for longer.

Also, the European Convention on Human Rights aims for freedom of expression and Estonia also acts in compliance to these regulations and has no examples of persecution or more severe consequences for those that have publicly expressed their opinions. Even content from Russia isn’t banned, even though Estonian authorities are aware of Russian campaigns to manipulate public opinion in the region.

The only exception to this liberality, however, is related to gambling websites . Whether they’re Estonian or foreign, the Gambling Act requires these websites to obtain a special license to operate legally in the country, and those that refuse to do so are likely to be blocked by ISPs. Still, Estonia acts transparently and makes the list of blocked sites available to the public. Likewise, despite the fact that authorities don’t usually paying much attention to torrenting, the downloading of copyrighted material is also illegal.

Estonia follows world trends when it comes to streaming and there is no reason for the open nature of the internet in the small Baltic country to limit the availability of foreign services to its citizens. As part of Netflix’s continued world dominance, the streaming service also reached Estonia back in 2016, though the content offered is still a disappointment to this day. It is no surprise that the U.S. has the most complete library in the world, but some European countries are able to provide a satisfactory number. However, in Estonia there are only roughly two hundred shows and even fewer movies – about 15% of what is available in America – which explains why many Estonians still prefer cable TV.

But it’s not just Netflix that has crossed into Estonia. Amazon Prime Video and Spotify are also accepting subscriptions from users in Estonia, though some similar services – HBO GO, for instance – have yet to reach the country.