VPN
We’ve published many posts on the security and privacy benefits of setting up a VPN on your computer, your smartphone, or even your entire home network. But there are lesser-known advantages that come to the fore if your VPN is super speedy. Want to know about them? Then let’s get started!
1. Watch foreign sports or TV shows
A familiar situation for many sports fans: having moved abroad or simply gone on vacation, you find to your annoyance that your beloved football/soccer/baseball/cricket/rugby… team’s games aren’t broadcast on TV there. The same catastrophe befalls fans of domestic TV shows that aren’t popular abroad. This issue may be solved if you can subscribe to digital broadcasts of whatever matches or shows you like in your hometown, but in other regions that service is likely to be blocked. However, the good news is that Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection lets you watch what you paid for — wherever you are. To do this, when away, you need to select a VPN server in your home country and connect to it. That way you’ll be assigned a “native” IP address that will virtually teleport you home. You just need to make sure that both your local internet connection and VPN are up to it speed-wise. For fast VPN secrets, see the end of this post.
2. Bypass bandwidth throttling
In mobile networks, public places, and sometimes even home connections, ISPs limit communication speed, which is known as bandwidth throttling. You may notice this when visiting sites with videos or downloading large files: your internet runs much slower. This allows ISPs to save bandwidth and reduce the load on the network, but it also restricts your rights. Thanks to Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection, which encrypts your traffic, providers and other third parties can’t see exactly what you do online or what sites you visit, and so they cannot throttle your bandwidth – however, if your ISP slows down all activities for all subscribers (blanket throttling), there’s no escape.
3. Play in the region of preference
Servers of many multiplayer games are distributed all over the world. Connecting from a certain region, you will play on the nearest server. This is done to minimize lag for all players, unite players from the same time zone, and lessen the language barrier in game chats. But this approach can cause issues too: for example, you might play at an “unsociable” hour, which means few suitable gaming partners on the nearest servers, or your team has settled on a very specific game server. Going online through Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection in the desired region guarantees a connection to the best server for your needs. Of course, VPN speed is critical here to ensure low lag and fast data exchange, so slow VPNs and VPN protocols are a big no-no for gamers — which is why we especially recommend that gamers use our VPN, recognized for high speeds in independent tests.
On game consoles, setting up a VPN can be tricky, so console owners find it easier to set up VPN directly on the router — more on this at the end of the post.
4. Sidestep price policies
In many stores and service organizations, the price for the same goods and services differs significantly from country to country due to variances in pricing policies or simply different sales schedules. At the time of posting, Black Friday and Singles’ Day (11.11) are on the horizon, to name just a couple of shop fests. You can cash in on seasonal offers and save money by connecting to a VPN server in the desired country and thus changing your IP address. That done, logging into the regional versions of online stores, you’ll see local promotions and enjoy the best discounts.
To take full advantage of this, your VPN service should offer a wide variety of servers in different countries. For example, our VPN has more than a hundred of these, including in such exotic locations as Bangladesh, Liechtenstein, and Malaysia. With such a wide selection, finding the right server in the list can be tough, which is why the latest version of Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection lets you add servers to a Favorites tab and quickly select the one you need.
5. Shop with peace of mind
Public networks — be it Wi-Fi at an airport, hotel, cafe, train, or bus — pose a number of risks to your devices. Among them are: third-party ads on websites; data harvesting of your online activities; the already mentioned slowdown when watching videos; and potential interception of payment information and passwords. It’s a real stinger to pay for extra baggage or window seats on your phone, only to see unexpected debits from your account after landing, right?
Over an encrypted VPN channel, none of that can happen. Nearby cybercriminals, cafe owners, and unscrupulous Wi-Fi providers can neither see nor intercept your online activity.
What’s more, our VPN can be configured to automatically turn the VPN on when connecting to unprotected Wi-Fi networks, plus you can customize the VPN settings for each Wi-Fi access point saved on your device individually. This makes it easy to configure which Wi-Fi networks need VPN protection, keeping you safe at all times.
And one other thing: if the VPN connection drops, Kaspersky VPN can automatically block all your network traffic until reconnection, ensuring your data doesn’t leak to an unsecured network.
6. Open geo-blocked websites
For both legal and security reasons, some sites choose to shut out connections from other countries. For example, many online stores aren’t accessible in countries they don’t ship goods to. The same goes for many municipal or government services provided online — access from abroad isn’t possible. If you need to use such sites, you need to point your VPN to a server in the respective country.
7. Open websites despite blocking
The opposite scenario to geo-blocking is when you arrive in a country where, say, Google or Instagram is blocked. By connecting to a VPN server in another country, you can continue to use your usual accounts and services.
Geo-blocking often creates the nuisance of having to constantly turn your VPN on and off to access certain sites or use certain apps. Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection comes in handy here, too. By configuring rules for Smart Protection (on Android only) and Split Tunneling (on Android, Windows and macOS), you can forget about the need to keep toggling the VPN: it will activate automatically for selected apps, sites, or site categories (such as payment systems, banking sites, or online stores) or bypass VPN for apps added to the exceptions list.
What makes Kaspersky VPN the fastest?
Gaming, watching videos, downloading large files, and even conference calling all require a lightning-quick VPN connection with minimal latency and high data-transfer rates. Besides a fast enough internet connection, this requires three other jigsaw pieces: a high-performance VPN server with a strong communication channel; a sufficiently powerful client (your phone, computer, or router); and an optimized communication protocol between these two pieces.
To make our VPN the undisputed speed champion (it outperformed all six of the other VPNs in an independent test), we use the fastest servers (10 Gbps) and connect to them over the most powerful protocols: Catapult Hydra and WireGuard. According to our internal tests, Catapult Hydra is five to seven times faster than the common OpenVPN protocol in terms of connection speed and ensures exceptional privacy protection without data leaks.
Where and how to use VPN?
You can install a VPN on your smartphone, computer, tablet, and sometimes even your TV or game console. Most routers also support a VPN connection, giving you the benefits of a VPN across your entire home network all at once. Which of these scenarios is better?
For travel and business trips, setting up a VPN on your phone and laptop is a priority. If gaming or online bargain hunting is your thing, it’s best to install a VPN on your Windows or Mac computer.
For TVs, game consoles, and simultaneous VPN use on multiple devices, the encrypted channel is best deployed directly on the router. Our VPN supports the ability to connect routers using the WireGuard and OpenVPN protocols: the former delivers maximum speed even on relatively weak router models; the latter provides maximum compatibility even with older models. Simply go to the VPN section on the My Kaspersky portal, and under VPN for routers, create a configuration file by selecting the protocol and server in the desired country. Then upload it to your router’s control panel — and every device in your home network will automatically enjoy all the benefits of VPN.
Where to find the best VPN deal?
You can get Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection either as a standalone product or as part of a Kaspersky Plus or Kaspersky Premium subscription. Besides super-fast VPN, your subscription comes with full protection for all devices — both computers and smartphones.
Fine print
Some countries prohibit the use of VPN as a technology, while others ban specific VPN usage. In addition, the license agreements of various online services explicitly prohibit the use of VPNs to bypass their regional restrictions. You should research the legal position in your specific case before opting for a VPN.
