How many times have you been disappointed when you found reviews of a great film on Netflix, only to discover that the same film is not available in your country? How many times when trying to book a flight have you seen the price increase by the minute, regretting not having accepted the first offer?
If you’re looking for a solution to these problems and many others you probably don’t know you have, you’re in the right place. The solution is called VPN.
What is a VPN?
In short, the device’s data traffic is intercepted by the VPN before going to its own network (Wi-Fi or telephone provider’s data connection). The traffic is then handled by another computer (typically a server) which can be located anywhere on the planet, depending on the VPN you choose.
The term Virtual Private Network might be scary at first, but the explanation is actually very simple. The VPN is nothing more than a portal that allows you to use the Internet connection of another computer.
Let’s say you’re at home now reading this article, and your computer or smartphone is connected to a network, be it your Wi-Fi or your phone provider’s data connection.
Everything you see and do on the Internet is registered in the name of your network and you will only be able to access the content that the network allows you to view. Through a VPN, however, we can decide which country to connect to the internet from. By doing this we are able to remain anonymous while browsing and accessing content available in the chosen country.
Now that we know how a VPN works, let’s see why it is so useful!
1) The best Streaming offer
Have you ever tried to watch Beverly Hills 90210 or Step Up 2 in streaming? Well, if you had searched for these titles in the Netflix catalog, you would surely have been disappointed by their absence. VPNs are also useful for this. By managing to cross national borders, with a good VPN you can access the catalogs of other countries, even the American one which has a much wider range of titles.
2) Save on online purchases
We often tend to underestimate the impact that our online activity has on our daily lives. In the age of Big Data, all our online activity is recorded and then sold to other companies that exploit this data to provide users with advertising that is more suited to their interests. But it doesn’t end here.
You may have already noticed that when you delay purchasing a plane ticket or a hotel, the price inexplicably changes in a short time. Nothing strange, most online booking sites use the recognition of your IP address (a sort of unique code that recognizes the network you use and your device) to manage price fluctuations.
If you have tracked the price of a flight a couple of times, the site recognizes that you will be inclined to purchase a ticket and shows you a higher price. Furthermore, through sophisticated algorithms, these sites are sometimes capable of making an estimate of your spending capacity on which to calibrate the final price.
By using a VPN, these sites will not recognize your activity and the price of your ticket will remain the same, or vary depending on other factors unrelated to you.
3) Privacy and security
Open networks can often be lures for bad actors trying to access your devices to steal your sensitive data. In fact, browsing data on these networks is not encrypted and therefore easy to access for hackers. Are you now interested in using a VPN? Click here to learn more about VPNs!