Content providers like BBC and Netflix UK restrict their content to British boundaries. Also, you can’t watch your HBO favourites and those from Netflix US, while on vacation in a foreign land.
People around the world have tried ways to watch what they want anytime, anywhere, and you too can do that if you hide your IP address.
And one of the best ways to do that is to use a VPN. So, let’s see how all this works and how to hide IP with VPN.
Geo-restriction and the IP address blocker system
Different regions have different licensing terms, and thus, content providers implement geo-blocks or restrictions to ensure the content viewership falls under those terms.
Not everything is made for the international audience, and they know where you are by your IP address. Well, do you want to know where to find your IP address?
One of the easiest ways is to ask the websites you open. There are sites like www.whatismyip.com which will display the IP address your device reports.
Your Internet Service Provider gives an IP address to each of the device connected to the Internet. And yes, it’s easy to hide that and send a fake IP address through a VPN server.
With your new IP address, you can now access the restricted contents. Next, you will read how to mask IP address and what does a VPN hide along with your IP address.
How to change IP address to another country?
So, does a VPN change your IP? You will have the answer once you understand the process. A website implements geo-blocking with the help of IP addresses, and if you can hide your IP address and show it a different one, you are no longer blocked.
And this is what proxy websites do. They let you use their servers and IP addresses to watch what you want to.
But the connection is public, and your ISP can see you watching those restricted streams. Sounds scary? It is. Here comes a VPN into play and when selecting one, choose the best VPN for a trouble-free experience.
When you connect to a VPN server in another country, the server masks your IP address with a local one from that area.
Now, when you open a website, they will see the new IP address, the address provided by the VPN. You can check it yourself. You know how to do that, right?
But there’s more in a VPN. It also encrypts the communication networks. They tunnel your data through the secure server you chose to connect.
And service providers like Express VPN and NordVPN both use some of the best security protocols. With this encryption, you get privacy while browsing the Internet.
These service providers have their servers in many countries, and thus, you have unrestricted access to contents from (almost) the whole world.
IP masking by Smart DNS
All this encryption and traffic redirection consumes a lot of your network speed, and thus the resultant rate is less than what your ISP offers. But you can avoid this problem if you use Smart DNS servers.
Instead of routing all the data through a secure server, a Smart DNS server changes only the IP related data. So, they offer a better speed than the VPN servers. They too are reliable but lack the encryption.
Without encryption, the ISP knows what you are watching. So, the best option is to connect to the VPN servers. ExpressVPN servers give you high speeds to stream live content without any problem.
More benefits of VPN
Not only a VPN connection relocates your device to another place without any physical movement, but it also encrypts your network. And the encryption comes handy in various situations.
You can browse the Internet safely on the unsecured, public Wi-Fi hotspots. You are on a Virtual Private Network, safe from surveillance or eavesdropping by the network administrators.
You can peek on your social media sites or send confidential emails without any fear of data theft. And as for the VPN providers, they don’t keep any connection details.
You can bypass censorship. If YouTube, say, is not available on your office network, you can get it after connecting to a VPN. Also, your torrent downloads are kept private. (Read our ultimate Torrenting guide here)
