VPNs are one of the most effective ways to secure your online privacy. However, you’d be surprised at how many other incredible features a VPN can unlock. From improving your internet speed to using VoIP anywhere, here are five exciting usages of VPN.
Save on plane tickets, hotel stays, and car rentals.
Prices of online tickets can vary depending on your location. Therefore, you can use a VPN to make significant savings on your vacations. Airlines are also known to inflate prices based on your search history, and VPN does an excellent job of clearing all cookies so that airline companies do not have the data that may result in them overcharging you. Additionally, you can hide your IP address and can compare prices from different countries, which may result in additional savings.
Anonymous downloading
Torrents, or peer-to-peer downloading, are becoming increasingly popular. While they can be used for copyright-infringing downloads, they can also be used for legal purposes, such as downloading a Linux distribution or open-source software such as LibreOffice.
VPN can be used to access these websites for hassle-free downloads. It is important to note that during long download sessions, some VPNs are susceptible to losing their connection with the server, exposing your IP address. This is why reliable VPN providers like Surfshark VPN have a built-in kill switch that automatically disconnects the internet connection when it loses contact with its servers, ensuring complete privacy.
Improving your internet speed
Your ISP monitors your data usage, and if you’re doing anything online that consumes a lot of internet bandwidth (such as downloading movies or other large files), your ISP may utilize bandwidth limiting techniques against you.
This will significantly reduce your download speed and makes browsing a painful experience. Although using a VPN, you can mask your IP address and slip through their firewall, and access uninterrupted internet speeds.
Using VoIP anywhere
You’ve probably heard that certain countries worldwide are restricting internet usage within their borders. The purpose for this is frequently to limit freedom of expression and ban news and social media sites that the government doesn’t control.
Often these restrictions extend to VoIP services, and many countries like China and UAE do not let their residents use usual voice calling apps like WhatsApp and Skype. Instead, they only allow state-owned services like Etisalat and Du, which often charge their users. Thankfully, VPN can be used to bypass the restrictions and enable fair use of the internet.
Streaming blocked content
When media content is banned depending on a user’s location, it is called geo-blocking (also known as geo-restriction). This is common in the case of TV programs, movies, and streaming sites, so Netflix users in the US may not always have the same set of programs that are available in India. So, if you want to enjoy shows from all around the world, downloading a free VPN is your best option.
Bottomline
A VPN ensures privacy in today’s data-driven world and unlocks many essential features. So whether you are a casual user or a seasoned professional, having a free VPN on your toolkit is highly recommended.