Whether you’re streaming movies, TV shows, or sports, there are several benefits to using a VPN. These include protecting your privacy, preventing ISP throttling, and lowering ping.
Internet service providers (ISPs) often throttle bandwidth if they detect high-bandwidth activity, such as gaming. A VPN can prevent this throttling by encrypting your internet activity and making it harder for your ISP to figure out what you’re doing online.
1. Protects Your Privacy
Streaming video is fun, but it can also be a security risk. Hackers can use unsecured Wi-Fi networks to steal private data from you while you’re streaming, paying bills, or checking your bank account.
Using a VPN while streaming and online gaming can protect your privacy by keeping your personal information hidden from hackers, ISPs, and other Internet snoops. A VPN encrypts and masks your data so that it looks like nonsensical, garbled text to anyone trying to intercept your communications.
One of the most obvious benefits of using a VPN while streaming is that it can help you access content that’s blocked in your country. This can be particularly helpful for streaming movies and TV shows that are only available in your country because they’re subject to copyright laws or local restrictions.
Additionally, using a VPN can prevent ISPs from selling your browsing history to advertisers. This data can be used to target ads based on your activity and preferences.
2. Prevents ISP Throttling
If your streaming speeds are incredibly slow, your favorite Netflix show is constantly buffering or you can’t play PUBG on mobile, you may be the victim of ISP throttling. While bandwidth throttling doesn’t happen to everyone, it’s a real problem and one that can be easily prevented with a VPN. This way you can trick your Hulu Location, change your Netflix library or access different channels that are geo-restricted in your region.
Most VPNs will encrypt all your activity to hide your browsing from your ISP and prevent them from being able to throttle you, regardless of what content you’re using the internet for. This makes it harder for an ISP to decide which websites should get the fastest access to their users’ data.
Moreover, VPNs come with privacy-enhancing features like WhiteLister and Internet Kill Switch, which make it easy to avoid ISP throttling. They also have a multitude of servers located around the world, so you can always connect to a server that will help you bypass restrictions and enjoy an ultra-fast connection to your favorite streaming services.
3. Lowers Ping
A high ping can be a major obstacle for online gamers. It can make it difficult to keep up with friends, and can cause lag and poor visuals in games.
Keeping your ping low can be a challenge, but there are several things you can do to improve it. One of the most important is to upgrade your internet connection speed.
Another way to lower ping is to select a gaming server that is close to your location. This reduces the distance that a data packet must travel from your computer to the game server, which can make a huge difference in how long it takes to send the packet and how slow the game will lag.
In addition, the quality of your modem and router can affect your ping. A better-quality modem and router will enable faster connections, which can also lower your ping.
4. Keeps You Safe
Using a VPN for streaming and online gaming keeps you safe from hackers. Public Wi-Fi sources are often not secure, making it easy for cyber criminals to steal your personal information and identity.
A VPN protects your data by encrypting it as it passes through their network of servers located around the world. This makes your data virtually unreadable to anyone else on the network.
Another way a VPN can keep you safe is by protecting your browsing history from your internet service provider (ISP). ISPs can see what sites you visit and what content you view, as well as how much data you use.
This can lead to targeted ads for products or services you may not be interested in. Or it could expose you to malware.
A VPN can also let you access geo-locked content by changing your IP address to one in the country of the game or show you want to watch. This is especially helpful if you are traveling and would like to access your favorite shows without the geo-restrictions.
Internet service providers (ISPs) often throttle bandwidth if they detect high-bandwidth activity, such as gaming. A VPN can prevent this throttling by encrypting your internet activity and making it harder for your ISP to figure out what you’re doing online.