If you want to know some of VPN’s benefits that are not known to many; you are in the right place. Here will tell you 5 unconventional uses of VPN that you might not know. The best VPN we recommend after an in-depth review and testing, are NordVPN and ExpressVPN.
You may know what VPN is, but some of its unconventional uses are not known to many. Let us first shed some light on the basic functionality of a VPN. A VPN or Virtual Private Network allows you to redirect your network traffic through a remote server in order to receive and send the data; while it also conceals your original location which looks like you are in a location that’s not your real location.
Your IP address reveals from where you are accessing the web, what a VPN does is, it masks your real IP with a fake virtual IP, showing the world any location of your choice and hiding your original one. This is how a VPN adds up an extra layer of security to your internet connection. It encrypts the tunnel through which the data passes and also disguises your IP not to let the people know your original location. Besides these common uses, VPN also offers some less known advantages that you might not know. Read on the article to learn about some unconventional uses of VPN.(also see, Is uTorrent Safe? Know If uTorrent is Safe to Use and How to use it Safely?)
1. Find Cheaper Car Rental Services And Discounted Flight Bookings
With the constant march of the Internet, we are constantly getting targeted by the advertisers at large. These advertisers inject targeted-ads according to the price and our locations. Every location gets a different offer for the same product. Your location can have less or more price for a particular product, depending on some factors.
A leading VPN service, VyprVPN has lately unveiled a new infographic that explicates that geo-targeting is leading to a new alp. This infographic illustrates that various countries or regions have different prices for the same car rental and flights.
For example, a flight, taking you from Sydney to Los Angeles on a site costs US$2,929.54 for the passengers based in New Zealand. The very flight would cost a customer in Lithuania US$5,424.80 – almost double! With car rental websites also, there were notable variations from country to country for the similar routes covered. Therefore using a good VPN provider to change your location virtually could benefit you in some big savings. All you need to do is sign up with a popular VPN provider that offers a wide range of server locations.
To avail of these saving benefits, follow the steps given below to save on car rental services and flight booking sites using a VPN.
- First of all, remove your cookies and browsing history or open an incognito window or use the InPrivate browser.
- Now, connect a VPN software and change the server location where you get the minimum price offerings.
- Now google the website for a rental car service or flight booking site.
The VPN will land you on the site with the local prices of that region you have selected in the server location of the VPN.
2. Bypass Traffic Shaping
Over the past years, it has been observed that the ISPs have started restricting some particular activities, especially in regions popular for wide usage. This often results in slower internet speed. Traffic shaping is also referred to as traffic management or packet shaping; this actually means limiting your internet.
Hence, if you observe your internet speed suddenly drops or starts lagging, it means the services you are accessing in all probability, being limited by a traffic shaping policy. Mostly, services like Netflix and YouTube get more affected by such traffic management that causes buffering and speed throttling.
The VPN comes very handily when it comes to evading traffic shaping in all forms and provides you the best of internet speed. Also, it makes your ISP unable to find out the kind of data and services you are sending. This anonymous usage would allow you to download hundreds of gigabytes or watch unlimited movies on YouTube. This is one of the five unconventional uses of VPN that most people do not know.
3. Protection On the Go
An added benefit of a VPN is that you can utilize it while you are on the go. So while picking a VPN provider, first look at the location you’re moving to and then choose one with server locations in your target country. This may not always be desirable because the VPN provider may not have server locations in all the countries you visit. Thus you need to choose one that offers a server nearby your target country and would ensure your connection security and also help in web browsing every day.
A server near your location will render doubled speed and make the browsing experience faster and more pleasurable than Wi-Fi aptitudes provided by a café or hotel in a foreign country. The nearest server will also guarantee security and privacy which is something that Hillary Clinton apparently did not care about. But most people do!
4. Play Games Just the Way You Always Wanted
ISPs generally tend to reduce down traffic from online games, especially those using the bandwidth-intensive BitTorrent protocol for dispensing updates and patches. Moreover, since these are employed for downloading copyrighted stuff illegally; network providers tend to restrict them. When you resort to a VPN service provider; you actually make it unlikely for your ISP to decrease down your gaming experience directly. (also see, How to Watch Dramafever Outside US With VPN?)
5. Prevent Spying On
Using VPN proffers you the freedom to work from cafés and public places with common Wi-Fi aspects without anybody infringing your privacy.
While most public networks can be vulnerable because they receive and send traffic sans any encryption as is generally seen on WPA2 networks used mostly by home users, your VPN service provider will ensure that your traffic is encrypted with top-quality military-grade encryption. This is also safe for shopping online when you are abroad, provided the transaction goes through a server placed in the country from where the purchase was made.
If you use a foreign credit card while shopping abroad, you will get a notification from the host saying that the purchase is suspect and you will need to give proof that the card is indeed yours. This wouldn’t happen if you used a VPN based in the country where you made the purchase.
Wrap Up
Hence, the benefits listed above are some unconventional uses of VPN that offers you significant advantages at large. It’s not only limited to bypassing geo-restricted content or preventing hackers; there some exceptionally nifty and unconventional uses of VPN that one can benefit from. If you already know these unconventional uses of VPN let us know in the comment section below or add some new to the list.
