Microsoft has been working on a built-in VPN feature in Edge, labeled Microsoft Edge Secure Network, for a few months now. Initially, this VPN offered 1GB of free data per month to those lucky enough to test it, but now, it looks like that limit has increased massively to 15GB, but it looks like it's only for some users. The change was discovered by Reddit user Leopeva64-2, who often digs up new features in Edge ahead of their official release.

Microsoft Edge Secure Network is a relatively basic VPN service powered by Cloudflare. Unlock full-blown VPN providers, which let you change locations to completely different regions, the point of this one is only to mask your identity online. Cloudflare will route your traffic to the servers closest to your location, so you're still served content that's relevant to where you are, but all the data you send and receive is encrypted and your IP address is masked so that no one can intercept your data or identify you in any way.

Of course, even a relatively basic feature like this has server costs, so providing unlimited data for free wouldn't be feasible, but 1GB is admittedly a very low bar, so the feature can end up being almost useless for some people. With 15GB, you should be able to use Microsoft Edge Secure Network to actually browse the web occasionally. You probably don't want to download a lot of large files with it, but it's pretty useful for a free service

However, there's a catch. This 15GB limit appears to be a temporary offer which only some Edge Insiders are eligible for. Microsoft recently updated its support page for Microsoft Edge Secure Network, and the information on data limits now reads:

Get 1 gigabyte of free data every month when you sign into Microsoft Edge with your Microsoft Account. A few early adopters will be in a data upgrade trial, at the end of their 30-day trial period the experience will reflect the normal VPN gigabyte limits.

The second sentence in that paragraph wasn't there until very recently, which suggests that Microsoft is only now experimenting with an upgraded data limit for some users. It's unclear why that is, or if it will be reflected in the final product once it's widely available.

Yes, while this feature has been available to Edge Insiders in the Canary channel since May, it looks like it's still not available to everyone. Even if you're enrolled in the Canary channel, you may not see the option to use Edge Secure Network. When it does become available to the general public, it's possible that Microsoft will offer a free 1GB plan alongside a paid plan with more data, and this experiment could be a way to test how that system will work. We've reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update this article if we have more information.


Source: Leopeva64-2 (Reddit)