If you’ve ever traveled abroad or visited a place where certain websites are blocked, then you know how important it is to have a reliable VPN service. VPNs have grown in popularity over the past few years and for good reason: as people become more aware of the risks associated with their online privacy, they want a way to protect it.
VPNs stand for virtual private networks. They help protect your personal info by encrypting your Internet traffic and anonymizing your personal data. When you connect to a specific VPN server, the IP address becomes your own, and websites think you’re actually in that country.
While they’ve extremely popular among Internet security experts for years, they’re beginning to grow in popularity other demographics, mainly those who tend to travel abroad or those who want to unblock geographically restricted content. Whatever your reasoning may be, it seems like privacy services like VPNs are essential.
But while VPNs are traditionally used to protect your privacy and unblock restricted content, there are others ways they can be used as well.
Here are a few tips to help make the most out of your VPN.
You Can Use a VPN to Save Money on Car Rentals, Flights, and Even Hotels!
Because most pricing websites set their prices based on users’ geographic location, you can actually find cheaper rates by using a VPN. Crazy, right? It’s called ‘price discrimination’, and it’s been happening for years. Fortunately, you can bypass these geographically hiked prices and find the cheapest rates with a VPN.
Here’s how it works:
- Set your Internet Browser toIncognito Mode and connect to any particular server location.
- Look up the sites you’re trying to rent from and check their prices.
- Now close and reopen your incognito browser,deleting the cookies from the sites you visit.
- Connect to a different VPN location, and search the same sites for prices.
It’s as simple as that! You can check different VPN server locations to find amazing deals. In fact, some people have reported saving thousands of dollars on trips by simply checking prices through different VPN server locations.
You Can Use Your VPN to Help Boost Internet Speeds.
Sometimes VPNs slow your Internet connection, but other times they speed it up. That’s because VPNs encrypt your connection—thereby bypassing common problems like Internet throttling, which usually results in decreased speeds.
If you’re using a paid VPN subscription (and I suggest you do), you should also have the option to switch between protocol options to help improve your browsing. Most VPN services offer three options: OpenVPN, PPTP, and L2TP. PPTP usually offers the highest speeds, so on the off chance you’re experiencing slowed connections, try switching to that.
You Can Use Your VPN to Make Public Hotspots Secure.
Public places like airports, coffee shops, and restaurants usually offer free Internet. They’re also notorious for having paper-thin security measures. Just last year theEconomic Times published an article on how dangerous public Wi-Fi is. The fact you’re sharing a network with countless other people means your data is at risk.
Luckily, a VPN keeps you safe from these kinds of networks by routing your Internet activity through a separate network. You’re able to browse public Wi-Fi, but you’re surfing secure. Next time you connect to your local coffee shop’s Wi-Fi, make sure your VPN is on and take full advantage of the public network while remaining completely anonymous.
You Can Even Use Your VPN to Create an Entire Privacy Network.
One of the best things about VPNs is the fact that they work on almost any platform. However, not all VPNs work the same. ExpressVPN is a choice in that it works the same on some Internet-enabled platform, some other famous VPNs are OpenVPN, Hotspot Shield, CyberGhost and so on. You can connect most VPNs to your iPhone, your Windows computer, you can even use a VPN router to interconnect all your various devices at once.
With a VPN, you’re able to turn your once-vulnerable home network into an impenetrable fortress.
Use these tips and take full advantage of your VPN. Let us know if you have any tips, tricks, or secrets of your own!