Streaming Content Using A VPN Preventing Others From Looking Over Your Shoulder
If youre streaming digital content via unsecured public Wi-Fi, not wanting to look like a slacker during office hours could be the least of your concerns. The dangers of free or low-cost, all-access Wi-Fi have been repeatedly stressed along with the availability of cheap hacking tools enabling cyber-criminals to create fake hotspots and/or intercept wireless signals to eavesdrop on the activities of internet users.
By using a VPN app or service each time you log into a public Wi-Fi venue, youll ensure that your entire session is encrypted and safe from being observed by intruders. Finjan Mobile has actually developed InvinciBull, a first-of-its-kind mobile app which integrates a VPN with a secure and fully featured web browser and its this kind of tool that you should be using, to protect yourself online.
Be Careful While Downloading And Streaming
Also, using a VPN can help you when streaming content through any service, since your ISP wont be able to know about it. This is especially important for downloading and streaming since ISPs often throttle network bandwidth when they find users doing either. So to prevent this from happening, use a VPN that can allow for P2P, offers support for Kodi, and has servers placed all over the world to give you ample of connectivity options to unblock geo-restricted services.
There is not one but many instances where users had to pay hefty fines. Below are some such instances shared by users in a Reddit discussion thread.
1. One had to pay $960 for downloading songs illegally.
Does A VPN Slow Down Your Internet Connection
Some people doubt whether they should use a Virtual Private Network because theyve heard it can slow down your internet connection. Its true that some VPNs have this effect. After all, a VPN redirects your connection through a remote server. This takes longer, so it could slow down your internet connection. However, this isnt always the case.
There are many VPNs that do everything in their power to make your internet connection as fast as it can be . If you want to make sure you end up with a fast VPN, check out our research on the fastest VPNs of this moment. All VPNs we recommend there have proven to work perfectly and cause little to no delays. Streaming, gaming, and browsing will go as fast as normal, only with increased freedom, security, and privacy.
If your internet speed is artificially restricted by your ISP or another party, a VPN can actually make your connection faster. The VPN ensures this limit no longer applies to you, so you can use the full potential of your connection.
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Netflix And Amazon Prime
At home, you have the opposite problem. Your library is stale, youve seen every good show and movie on there.
Now you need a Netflix library with 1,000-ish more shows and movies to watchperhaps something from the top 10 global Netflix libraries.
People in smaller and European countries will greatly benefit from access to US and UK Netflixthose wanting to learn English especially. Watching media in your desired language is a fantastic learning tool!
As for US and UK natives, having access to each others libraries is fantastic. Theres lots of BBC and ITV content on US Netflix that isnt on UK Netflix. Meanwhile, UK Netflix has US shows that US Netflix lacks.
Similar to above, many Amazon Prime Video libraries are highly varied and different. Youll need an Amazon Prime subscription to watch another countrys library, but in some cases, its worth it.
What Is A Mobile VPN
Use a mobile-friendly VPN to avoid slower speeds and ensure greater data privacy for your whole device. Mobile VPNs generally have a smaller memory footprint, and require less processing power than desktop VPNs, so they run faster and save more battery. Our top three VPN picks;all have excellent, easy-to-use mobile app options for their services. Some VPNs will only work with one type of platform — like Apple or Android — and some are universally compatible. To find the right mobile VPN for you, check out our mobile-specific VPN guides below. We routinely update them with our retesting information, so check back often.;
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Some Websites Work Hard To Block VPNs
This is a common problem when it comes to streaming sites like Netflix. Because of licensing laws, its in their best interest to keep you from seeing content thats unavailable in your region. Thats why they check users IP addresses to see if they match known VPN servers.
If your IP address is flagged as belonging to a VPN, the streaming site will immediately block your connection. To get past this problem, try connecting to different servers until you find one that works .
You might get this message if Netflix finds out that youre using a VPN.
VPN blocks can also be an issue with PayPal and some online banks, which might flag your activity as suspicious if you log in from a foreign IP address. Their intention is noble; the goal is to keep international fraudsters from logging into your accounts.
However, if youre using a VPN, you might get blocked from your own account. Youll probably have to contact your bank to clear up the issue, which is a hassle. To avoid this, you can either temporarily turn off your VPN or just connect to a server in your own country.
For more details and tips, read our guide on how to bypass VPN blocks.
Recommended By Our Editors
Unfortunately, not all devices can run VPN apps. Your smart fridge, for example, isn’t a likely candidate for convenient app use. If this is a concern for you, you can configure your router to use a VPN connection, or purchase a pre-configured router from some VPN companies. This encrypts data as it leaves your safe home network for the wild web. Information sent within your network will be available, and any smart devices connected to your network will enjoy a secured connection. We haven’t tested this kind of setup, but we’ve come to believe it’s impractical for most people.;
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Wait This Is Starting To Sound Shady Is It
There are definitely some gray areas here. First, don’t do anything illegal and get yourself in trouble in your part of the world. That would be bad. And it’s perfectly OK to not want to cross over into any gray areas.
A VPN is a tool. Use it responsibly.
On the other hand, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with using a VPN itself. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with content providers saying they don’t want you using a VPN to attempt to circumvent regional requirements. And that has launched a sort of cat-and-mouse game. It’s not unheard of for a content provider say, Netflix ;to lock things down so you can’t watch U.S. content outside of the United States, even if you’re using a VPN that makes it look like you’re still in the U.S.
The VPN companies adjust. And then the content provider adjusts. And so goes the game.
But is using a VPN to watch something somewhere you’re not intended to watch it shady? I probably wouldn’t go that far. Just know there may be roadblocks, and you might have to do a little work to watch what you want to watch.
You Can Avoid Buffering Issues
Buffering might be a problem you rarely encounter when streaming. But its irritating when it happens. Thankfully, a decent streaming VPN can help to reduce the chances of buffering occurring.
As streaming is an online activity that can take up a lot of bandwidth, your internet service provider may try to counteract potential network congestion by reducing your connection speed.;
The result? Lagging pages and the dreaded buffering screen, meaning you may have to succumb to a stop-start viewing experience, or have to pause and wait for whatever you’re watching to completely load before proceeding. Not ideal. This is known as bandwidth throttling which, when applied, can cause prolonged buffering issues.
Thankfully, the encryption you get with a good-quality VPN keeps your internet activity effectively hidden from your ISP. As a result, youre much less likely to experience bandwidth throttling when streaming with a VPN. It’s also pretty handy when it comes to things like gaming, too, with a whole host of VPN for gaming options out there.
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Which VPN Should I Use
Our roundups of the best VPNs and the best cheap VPNs are excellent places to research the top choices, but below is a quick list of our top picks if you just want to get started with online privacy protection right now.
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Do You Need A VPN To Stream Video
07 November 2019
VPNs are everywhere these days. But do you really need one to stream video? It depends ..
You can’t trip over a webpage or a YouTube video ;or even live TV; without seeing some kind of advertisement for a VPN . That’s short for “Virtual Private Network.” And if you’ve spent any amount of time in any sort of corporate environment, there’s a good chance you’ve already had to use one.
But what about for cordcutting? One of the major contexts in which VPNs are mentioned has to do with streaming video.
But do you really need a VPN to stream? The answer to that is pretty simple, if not exactly conclusive;;it depends.
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Ddos And Swarming Attacks
A DDoS attack happens when a target IP address is overwhelmed with traffic. These attacks are also referred to as swarming attacks since the IP address is swarmed with requests. Since it takes a lot of traffic to make this happen, these attacks are distributed or sent from a large number of computers. This happens in the gaming world when someone wants to gain a competitive edge on another player by slowing down their connection or knocking them entirely offline.
This is a big problem for streamers since their gameplay is so public. Not only do other players want to shut them down, but bad actors may also just want the satisfaction of taking down a big player. In addition to some technical know-how, all perpetrators need is the IP address they want to attack. Fortunately, with a VPN, that IP address is hidden behind a virtual address.
Advantage 6: Anonymous Downloading
Downloading certain Torrents is illegal in some countries and more than ever before tracked down and sometimes even prosecuted. Of course, we are not advocating any illegal actions. However, we do understand people want online privacy and anonymity, not just when browsing the internet, but also when uploading and downloading files.
To make sure nobody knows what you are downloading or uploading you can use a VPN. Because of the encrypted traffic and the rerouted IP address you can with a VPN.
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What’s The Best VPN For Game Console Streaming
Most game consoles don’t support VPN apps and don’t offer users the option to set up VPNs manually. That means you’ll either have to set up a VPN on a wi-fi router or use a smart DNS proxy instead.
In either case, ExpressVPN fits the bill. It makes excellent router firmware for a select few router models that’s far easier and more feature-rich than what you’ll get on open-source alternatives. Every subscription also comes with the MediaStreamer smart DNS service, which you can set up on some game consoles, including Xbox and PlayStation.
Browse Safely On Public Networks
If your job requires you to travel a lot, then you frequently connect to public wireless networks. The security of these networks is a joke. Its non-existent, which makes it simple for anyone to see what you are doing when you are connected to these networks. Now, you might be accessing your bank account or corporate data when connected to public networks. Obviously, you dont want this information going into the hands of an unknown person. If you use a VPN, your information and your activity are safe and secure. Public networks are honeypots for malicious users, so using a VPN when connecting to public wireless networks is an absolute must.
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How Will A VPN Impact Performance
Rule number one of streaming – whether you’re watching or broadcasting – is that a fast internet connection is a must. If not, you’ll end up with a stream so pixelated that it could double as an eye test. Streamers want as little latency as possible and consistent speeds… and surely a VPN only makes things worse?
Well, the truth is that you’re always going to experience a little loss of speed when connected to a VPN server. It’s inevitable, because the VPN is doing so much work to encrypt your data and route it all through the server. Any reduction in speed can have a knock-on effect, of course, and could cause lag and pixelation. The exact extent of the “damage” is going to depend on how quick your internet connection was in the first place. After all, the loss of speed caused by a VPN shouldn’t even be that noticeable.
I appreciate that even the slightest increase in latency can have huge gameplay consequences, though! This is especially true for anyone playing a fighting game where every millisecond counts, or doing team matches where you all have to respond quickly to one another and the enemy crew. There’s nothing worse than clicking an action and expecting it to fire off… only to see it activate a second later, and a second too late.
How To Use A VPN With Smart TV
Using a VPN with ones TV is probably not a good strategy.
Why?
Because it is the wrong tool for tackling the kind of problem that a user with a TV and some content to unblock may want to tackle.
Of course, there are many ways in which you can use a VPN service with your TV.
More specifically, you may use a VPN service to spoof your real location.
In that case, the TV set itself would access content that is streamable in another country.
A VPN service also comes in handy for those somewhat sensitive online consumers who do not like the idea of a third-party company or an internet service provider monitoring their TV sets web traffic.
Now, in order to use a VPN for your TV, you should either have a smart TV which is able to form a connection to the internet via your network and then stream video content directly with the help of its own TV apps.
Or, you should connect a streaming box to your TV. Were talking about streaming boxes such as Apple TV and/or Roku TV.
So perhaps what you do first is to try and launch a VPN app either on your streaming box or TV set directly.
The market does offer VPN services such as NordVPN and SurfShark which do offer VPN app for such devices.
A user may install one of these VPN apps via official apps platforms/stores.s
All you need to do in such a case is to download the VPN app and then enter your login credentials and you should have nothing stopping you from going online and letting loose.
Why?
Or any other kind of streaming device.
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Using VPN For Streaming
One of the most common uses of a VPN is streaming. Thats because most streaming platforms offer;different content for different regions, while some streaming options are downright unavailable in certain countries. From a user perspective, thats really unfair.
Luckily, even these problems can be solved by the almighty VPN. By changing your IP address, a VPN service spoofs your country, tricking the streaming page of your choice. Thus giving you the posiibility to watch the Oscars, new movies, TV shows, and sporting events like;Formula 1 online from any location.
Unluckily, Netflix and other pages are constantly blocking VPN traffic , making it more and more difficult to bypass geographical restrictions.
As a result, trying to unblock streaming services is a never-ending battle, and a VPN that works today might be unable to help you watch geo-blocked movies tomorrow. Thus, its a good idea to buy;monthly VPN subscriptions, constantly switching to the service that works with your favorite streaming site.
The Best VPN For Beginners
Here is my top recommendation for beginner-friendly VPN. If youre totally new to the cybersecurity world, this service will make it super easy for you to get started.
- Strict no-logs policy and high-end security
- Up to 5 simultaneous connections
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Works with: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, HBO GO, Fox, Sky TV, and more
- Compatible with: Windows, Android, macOS, iOS, Chrome, Firefox, Linux, and some routers
ExpressVPNs latest deal September 2021:
When it comes to choosing my favorite provider, ExpressVPN is always a top contender. Its incredibly fast and super secure. It also has tons of streaming-optimized servers that can easily unblock Netflix, Hulu, and all the other major platforms, according to our thorough tests.
ExpressVPNs servers are fast enough to ensure that you wont have to suffer through buffering or endless loading times. On top of that, theyre also secure; AES 256-bit encryption and a strict no-logs policy guarantee that your personal data stays totally safe.
Additional security features include a kill switch and TrustedServer technology, which provides extra protection through RAM-based servers. In other words, ExpressVPN goes above and beyond to protect your online privacy.
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