Uses of a VPN That You Might Not Know

The World Wide Web was meant to be used by all people from different regions around the globe. However, restrictions have been imposed on online content, and online threats have become more sophisticated and smarter than ever.

These reasons and more brought the need for a technology that can overcome these challenges and allow internet users to surf the web anonymously and privately. For many years, people have used the virtual private network as being a very effective and reliable tool to maintain security and privacy.

Once we think of a VPN, we also think of blocked online content, but is it the only reason why VPN exists? We’re here to tell you more about a VPN use that you might not actually know. But before getting any deeper, let’s tell you briefly about what a VPN service is and how it works.

A Quick Intro to the VPN Services and How They Work

VPN is an acronym that stands for the virtual private network; it’s a technology with a history that starts back to 1996 when an employee in Microsoft developed the Peer-to-Peer Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), which was officially published in 1999. Since then, the VPN industry has grown drastically.

The major motive behind developing VPN technology is to allow employees in a certain company to share files and access sensitive information from anywhere around the globe and with high secrecy. Afterward, the use of VPN has extended to become available for all internet users.

In 2005, the first third-party VPN providers, like CactusVPN, came to the scene and provided a very efficient solution to the multiple threats that were one of the outcomes of the huge technological revolution. Expectedly, the more integrated technology gets to different life aspects, the more threats users get exposed to. As a result, using a VPN has become a necessity more than an optional tool to overcome the challenges imposed by countries with high censorship.

But how does a VPN service work?

Simply, a virtual private network is a great tool for security since it encrypts all the outgoing and incoming traffic through the VPN network, which leaves zero chance for cyberattacks, data breach attempts, and identity theft. On top of that, a good VPN service offers a large number of servers that are well-distributed over the globe.

When you choose a server, your VPN provider changes your IP address to show that you’re in a different geographical location, which allows you to access any geo-blocked content from any region around the globe. On a side note, we recommend checking the legality of VPN use in your region before investing your money in a VPN service.

Here comes the important question: What can a VPN service do? In the following section, we’ll bring you the multiple ways a VPN service can be used.

VPN Uses That You Might Not Have Heard About Yet!

Most people use VPN services to unblock geo-restrictions, but this is just one of many ways you can use a VPN. According to Several.com, here are the best way in which you can use a VPN:

  • Online shopping: A VPN service can contribute to your online shopping in multiple ways. First of all, you can use a VPN service to get a discount on your online purchases. In other words, using a VPN service can fake your IP address and let you get discounts that are not available in your region. Secondly, you might want to purchase while you’re traveling abroad. But it happens, when you access the platform where you want to make the purchase, then you find that it offers a geo-limited online purchase. To solve the problem, you can use a VPN to change your location and complete the purchase process from your region and use your address for the shipping. By doing so, you’ll save time and get your order delivered by the time you get back home.
  • Go around ISP tracking: If your browser uses your information to track your online activity and monitor what you do online, using a VPN is the most effective way to overcome online censorship and keep your connection to the internet private and secure. Users who find this point a very advantageous one are those who live in high censorship countries or journalists who want to find an outlet for their opinions.
  • Public Wi-Fi Security: Wherever you go, you’ll find a Wi-Fi network, including libraries, restaurants, hotels, universities, and coffee houses. You might use one of these networks to check your email, make an online purchase, or check your social media accounts. However, similar networks are easily accessible by cybercriminals. That’s why it is suggested to use a VPN service while using a Wi-Fi network to protect your personal information and surf the web anonymously.
  • Secure downloads: Although torrenting doesn’t have a glorious reputation associated with it, it can have copyright-free content and can also be used for legal downloading from open-source software. However, similar sources of data can be highly monitored by authorities and an inviting prey for hackers. So, if you want to download files that are not available anywhere else, make sure to do that while using a trusted VPN.
  • Streaming blocked content: You might have noticed that many streaming services impose geo-restrictions on their content, and that’s simply because they don’t have the license to stream in that certain region, or the content is exclusively available by certain streaming services. With a VPN, you can easily access any geo-blocked content by changing your IP address.

Using a VPN has become a necessity, and many people are using it these days. You can check the VPN statistics and check its widespread use by people from all around the globe. However, you’ll need to ensure that you’re using a good VPN service that can maintain a secure and private connection to the internet.