Mozilla announced today that its long-awaited VPN service (virtual private network) will start later this summer, and in fact "in the next few weeks".
The upcoming service will be renamed from its original name Firefox Private Network in "Mozilla VPN".
Η change name came after the extension of this particular VPN service from a Firefox extension to VPN of the whole device, which is capable of routing traffic for the entire operating system. This includes other browsers.
Mozilla VPN will initially be released for Windows 10, Chromebook, Android and iOS devices.
Mozilla said the beta testers also requested a Mac client, along with a Linux application.
Once Mozilla VPN is out of beta, the service will continue to be available to US users only (for now).
However, Mozilla has stated that it intends to make its VPN available in other selected areas by the end of the year.
Regarding the monthly fee, company stated that it "will continue to offer Mozilla VPN with its existing pricing model for a limited time, which allows you to protect up to five Windows, Android, and iOS devices for $4,99 per month."
The Mozilla VPN was released last September. The beta was only available to US residents, but the company announced that users from more than 200 countries have joined the waiting list.
Mozilla said the VPN works by routing web traffic through a network of trusted proxies. The VPN browser extension uses Cloudflare servers, while the device-wide VPN uses Mullvad servers and protocol WireGuard open source VPN, added earlier this year to the Linux kernel.
Since the release of the beta service last year, Mozilla has created a comprehensive faq with detailed support questions and answers both for browser extension as for VPN of the whole device.