How To Access The Web Without Limitations When Travelling

The world has become much smaller and more accessible for people everywhere.

People are quite fond of accepting differences in the culture and lifestyle of the different places they visit.

However, one thing they never want to compromise on is internet accessibility.

The freedom that people have varies from place to place. It is not like locals don’t have any problem with it themselves, but the burden is too much on someone who is visiting the country for some time and belongs somewhere with little or no online restrictions.

Luckily, there are ways to use the internet in the same manner wherever you are.

Internet Issues While Travelling

There are a lot of Internet-related problems you may face when you travel.

Internet Censorship

Internet censorship is present in many countries around the world. In some of them, the censorship is limited to a few regions, while in others, it is a national issue.

In some countries, only small parts of the internet are censored and blocked. But in those such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, etc., a major portion of the internet is blocked.

Social networking sites, news websites, IM services, VoIP services, search engines, etc. are either blocked or extensively controlled by the government.

If you travel to such countries, you would almost feel like you have no internet access at all.

Geo-restriction

Most services today are geo-restricted, whether they are streaming services, radio services, etc. If you are used to accessing them on a daily basis, you will be disappointed that the country you are traveling to doesn’t have that service.

Services like Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, BBC iPlayer, Pandora, etc. are available in select parts of the world. Netflix is available almost everywhere but the content varies greatly from place to place.

So even if you have a valid subscription, you might not be able to stream your favorite TV shows, and sporting events, or listen to radio stations and songs.

All this is just because you are somewhere where the service isn’t available.

Public Wi-Fi

When you are on the go, you will connect to public wireless networks. These can be your hotel networks or networks in cafes or other places.

The one thing common with all these is that they have little or no security measures. It’s quite simple for anyone connected to these networks to see what you are doing, and even steal the data you are sharing through the network.

This can be especially problematic if you use sensitive information like corporate data or bank account details.

How To Access the Internet Without Limitations

There are a few ways you can get around these issues and access the internet without limitations when you travel.

Proxy Services

Proxy services allow you to access websites blocked in your region. They connect you to a remote computer that acts as a mediator between you and the internet. All your requests go to that device before you are taken to the destination address.

Your IP address appears to be that of the remote computer, and you can access blocked websites since your ISP wouldn’t know the request is coming from your location.

Proxy services are typically free to use, and you need only enter the URL of the website you wish to access. Unfortunately, many proxy services aren’t reliable, since it is fairly easy to block proxy services. Also, many of them are crawling with malware and adware, since they don’t have proper security measures to protect users.

SmartDNS

SmartDNS services primarily help you bypass geo-restrictions. These reroute your DNS requests to remote servers which obfuscate your IP address. Any website that wishes to know your IP address and thereby determine your location cannot do so since SmartDNS services hide your IP.

Your traffic is not encrypted, but your DNS queries for websites that look at your IP address before granting you access are rerouted to the servers under the SmartDNS service.

These services work like a charm when it comes to bypassing geo-restriction to stream content since they offer great connection speeds. However, the number of websites these services can help you access is limited, and SmartDNS servers can be blocked by governments and ISPs with little trouble.

VPN

This is the recommended option when it comes to browsing the internet with freedom when you travel. VPNs provide you with privacy and anonymity and make your connection secure.

All your internet traffic is encrypted when you use a VPN, which makes it difficult for anyone to see what you are doing on the internet. When you are connected to a VPN server, your true IP address is masked by that of the VPN server. This hides your location and identity, making you anonymous on the internet.

Since VPNs encrypt your connection, it is difficult for government trackers or malicious users to see what information you are sharing on the internet. Even if your packets are intercepted, the encryption makes it difficult to read the contents.

A VPN effectively provides you with a secure communication channel to share sensitive information or access corporate data remotely. You also get protection from malware and DDoS attacks with good VPNs. Some Virtual Private Networks are tailor-made to be used in countries like China and UAE, where using such service is illegal.

VPNs charge you some money for this service, and your connection speed reduces to some degree because of the encryption overhead. However, when it comes to online freedom, privacy, and anonymity, there is no better option than using a VPN.

Why Use PIA?

Using a VPN is definitely the best way to access the internet without limitations when you travel. But you have to be careful when you choose a VPN.

While they hide your activity from everyone else, they can see everything you do. So it is important to choose a VPN that doesn’t record your activity logs, takes care of your privacy, and gives you great connection speeds. That’s why we recommend PIA.

No logs regarding your identity or activity are recorded, so there’s nothing to hand over to the authorities. The reliable OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols are made to provide optimal browsing and VPN experience respectively.

What’s more, you can use the service on 10 devices simultaneously. You can even try it out risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Online freedom varies greatly in different parts of the world. While some users might be okay with having restrictions imposed on them for a few days, others would not. If your stay is a lengthy one, then you have to take measures to ensure that you can use the internet in whichever way you want.

Using a VPN is the best way to go about it since you get reliability, security, and support whenever you want.

Choosing a VPN is something you have to be really careful about since that decides whether you are paying for protection and freedom or shelling out money without getting what you want.

With VPNs like PIA, you can always rest assured knowing that you are safe in public wireless networks and safe from all prying eyes. This means you can use the internet anyway you like, the way it should be.