Your IP address is your computer’s identity. It is the same as having an address for your home but in the virtual world, your IP address is where your data is sent and delivered. It is how data know how to find you. However, you may not always want people to know where you are making internet requests from, or you could have the need to show that you are not in the location your IP address is in.
There are many reasons why you may want to hide or swap your IP address, so here are 5 just to give you an idea.
1. You Want to Stream Illegal Movies or Sports
In some countries, internet service providers can completely cut off your connection if they believe that you are using your internet router to connect sports streaming sites like ESPN or Sky Sports. You need a subscription for these sites and the ISP is bound by law to prevent people from accessing sites that stream such channels.
2. You may want to watch Netflix Movies in Another Country
Even though you may have a Netflix subscription, not every country has the same movies available. Let’s say you wanted to watch a French film, but you are in the UK. You log on to your Netflix and all the UK films are there, but not the French version. Therefore, you can use something like choix VPN software to connect to a server in a city in France. Your connection now shows you are in France and you will receive all the films available on the French version of Netflix.
3. You May Want to Access Geo Restricted Websites
Geo-restriction means that a website only allows people to access it if they are in the same country as the website is hosted. For example, HBO is often restricted to only people accessing it from a US IP address. BBC only allows people with UK IP addresses to stream some of its video content and so on. A VPN will help you access a server in the country the geo-restricted website is in.
4. You Want to Play Computer Games on Servers in Another Country
Many online games known as multi-player battle arena (MOBA) games will only usually connect you to the closest server available in your location. However, you may be in Asia, but you want to play on the US or UK server versions of that game.
This is because these games can have up to 10 different people playing at the same time and they all communicate with each other because it is a team game. The language barrier can often be a problem, so connecting to an IP in your native country would make sense so you can communicate in your own language with the other players.
5. You like to Download Torrents
As with point number one, many ISPs will suspend your internet connection if they suspect you of downloading torrents. However, there are plenty of countries out there with no laws against it or they simply don’t uphold the law if there is one. A VPN would be the perfect solution for this situation.
These are just 5 reasons you may want to hide your IP. There are tons of others, like connecting to the dark web, bypassing restrictions on work/office routers, accessing data in other countries, or using multiple accounts on the same website for whatever reason you may want to do this – usually to make content go viral. All this can be achieved by hiding your IP address via the many VPN software options available out there.
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