Do You Need a VPN for Streaming? (Probably, Here’s Why)

With the large number of VPN services available, and the constant need to remain protected, it is easy to believe that you need to use one for all your online activities, like streaming. In fact, it is almost impossible to spend a few hours on sites like YouTube without having a VPN ad pop up. But is a VPN really necessary for streaming? Well, that depends.

What Is a VPN and Why Is It Necessary?

To decide whether or not you would be needing a VPN for streaming, you must first understand what a VPN is.

VPN is short for Virtual Private Network. This network offers a top-notch protection service for users on the web. It does this by creating a more secure connection for users over a public network such as public Wi-Fi and home networks, like the one offered by your internet service provider. The VPN encrypts your data and passes it through servers that help to protect your online activity from threats found on the web, like hackers, or sites that sell or keep logs of your data.

A Virtual Private Network is used for different reasons by different people. Security and privacy are just some of its many uses. Some corporate organizations make use of VPN services to protect their sensitive information from the government or hackers; but for individual users like you, it is often used for a different purpose. Individuals mostly use VPN providers to stream content that would have been inaccessible.

Many times, you don’t have access to content on your favourite streaming sites because the companies have geoblocked their sites, thereby restricting users from certain parts of the world from accessing the sites. These georestrictions are mainly resultant effects of archaic unresolved copyright laws between the streaming site and the government of your country. But there really is nothing to worry about.

With a VPN service, it has become very easy to bypass and even unblock these restrictions right there on your device. All you would be needing is a quality VPN provider. This VPN would then encrypt your data and provide you with an anonymous identity that presents you as though you were in a location that allows you access to restricted sites.

Concisely, a VPN grants you privacy on the web, as well as security from malicious sites and other online dangers.

Do VPNs really guarantee Privacy for Streaming?

It is okay to wonder how and whether VPNs actually deliver on their promise of protection and anonymity since they take over the task of tracking your data in place of your ISP. The truth however, is that even with a VPN, you may not always be totally anonymous, but, there are major steps you can take using a VPN, to ensure you are anonymous whenever you stream content online. Check out a few below:

• No-Logs Policies
  It is pertinent to note that because a VPN promises privacy does not mean it makes you anonymous online. To achieve that state of anonymity, you need to make use of a VPN service that runs under a ‘no-logs policy’.
  
  Not all VPN services offer this feature, however, most of the strong, top-quality ones do. A ‘no-logs policy’ simply means that your data that is being passed across their servers will never be retrieved, gathered, stored or sold. Your VPN provider will not be able to have any access to any sensitive information that you may have passed across their servers.
  
  Fully aware of this, to ensure that you operate under a completely private network, you definitely need to make use of a VPN working under a no-logs policy. This will ensure you have total anonymity on the web to be able to bypass geoblockers that restrict you from your favourite sites.
• The Onion Router
  For a further shot at anonymity, it’s a great idea to combine The Onion Router, also known as TOR, with your Virtual Private Network. TOR is a network that keeps you anonymous by sending your traffic through about three relays before it gets to its destination. You can achieve this in two ways:
  • TOR over VPN: This way, you first need to connect to your VPN, and then to TOR so that third parties that may be trying to get in on your online activity will not be able to see you’re using TOR bypass as this may cause suspicion.
  • VPN over TOR: Here you first connect TOR so that your data gets passed through TOR first, and then exits through an exit node which is then passed to your VPN’s server.

For proper privacy, anonymity and security measures, VPNs are your surest bet.

How Easy Is It to Set Up a VPN?

It is as easy to set up a VPN as you make it to be. What does this mean? If you do it right, setting up a VPN can be easy. Depending on a user’s needs, there are various types of VPNs to suit them. For instance, if you are only looking to encrypt your data and ensure safety on the internet, then you may only need a compact VPN with minimal features. However, for individuals who need a VPN for specific purposes such as streaming, torrenting and geo-unblocking, a high-end VPN with tons of features designed to assist with such needs would be useful. In any of these cases, VPNs are quite easy to use and can be set up in a jiffy with little or no complications.

What Is the Best VPN for Streaming?

Since we have established that VPNs are indeed necessary for streaming some type of content, the question then is, which of these VPNs would be the best to use for this purpose? There are a few that readily come to mind. However, it is necessary to note that not all VPNs are free. In fact, most of the high-end VPNs are not free, and rightfully so. The services they offer are highly efficient and give you great returns for your money’s worth. Therefore, the VPN providers that would be discussed below are all paid VPNs.

When selecting a VPN provider, a few of the things to be on the look-out for are the number or server locations, the pricing, connection speed and its key security features. A few of these VPNs have remained reliable and trustworthy for streaming on the VPN market, take a look at them and their features below:

Conclusion

VPNs have come to make life on the web easier, and most importantly, safer for users with all the security and protective features they have to offer. However, the restrictions surrounding many streaming sites for users all around the world makes the need for online anonymity become very prominent. While one may not necessarily need a VPN on ALL streaming sites, MANY streaming sites are restricted from millions of users globally, and only a VPN can grant you access to stream on such sites.