Whether you want to access geo-blocked content, snag a good deal on shopping sites, or browse anonymously, changing your location online is your best bet to enjoy the full internet experience. With the right resources, spoofing your location is actually quite easy. In this article, we will show you simple but effective tricks you can use to fake your location on any device.
Why Changing Your Location is a Smart Idea?
The internet is wonderful, but as you might already know, it can also easily expose you to unwanted or unsafe entities. Take your ISP, for example. Every time you connect to the internet, your ISP can very easily spy on your online activities.
This is obviously not a good thing if you do not want these activities tracked back to you.
Additionally, unless you mask your location, hackers can track you based on your IP address. They can then remotely compromise your computer and steal confidential data – a move that can be quite disastrous, to say the least.
Spoofing your location also helps with bypassing geo-blocked sites such as Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and others. For instance, if you want to watch the hugely popular US Netflix show The West Wing while vacationing in Australia, you would need to change your virtual location first.
What’s more, by appearing to be in another location, you can snag considerably cheaper prices on flights and products in online stores. Travel websites, for example, show higher flight prices to people in more developed countries.
If you were to spoof your location to that of a less-developed country, you would see cheaper prices for the same flight!
All in all, there are plenty of good reasons for changing your virtual location. We won’t go into the details of how IP addresses work but you can read our comprehensive guide to help you hide your IP address.
For now, we would like to show you sure-fire ways to make it look like you are accessing the internet from a different location.
3 Ways to Change Your Location Online
You do not have to be a geek to successfully mask your virtual location. With basic computer knowledge, you can use any of our recommended tools to fake your actual location when you are connected to the internet.
Our go-to resources for location spoofing are:
- VPN
- Proxy
- Tor Network
VPN
A virtual private network (VPN) software is the best, most reliable way to stay anonymous online. What this software does is assign you a new IP address, effectively masking your current IP when you are online. This way, websites, apps, add-ons, and your ISP cannot detect your real location.
VPN providers have multiple servers spread across different countries. All you have to do is install the software on your device and select a server in your desired location.
So, for example, if you are traveling outside the UK and want to watch a show on BBC iPlayer, simply select a server in the UK on your VPN. This will make it look like you are accessing BBC iPlayer from the UK even though you are actually in another country.
You can use the same method to watch the likes of ITV, Demand Five, and Sky Go. You will also find that this trick is super useful to watch MotoGP for free on a foreign channel.
While there are free VPNs, their service can be incredibly sketchy and they do not fully guarantee online anonymity. If you want peace of mind, you are better off with a premium VPN.
We recommend ExpressVPN—it is the most reliable we have tested so far. With its advanced encryption technology, you can rest assured that your online activities, including your location, are always anonymous.
Many sites are beginning to realize that people are using unblocker apps to access blocked content. You, therefore, need a powerful VPN to consistently hide your location and bypass these sites.
ExpressVPN gives you the option to connect to multiple servers, making it a great choice for avoiding geo-restrictions.
The good news is that you can try ExpressVPN risk-free based on its generous 30-day money-back guarantee. When you subscribe to the 12-month plan, you qualify for a 49% discount and the first 3 months are absolutely free.
Proxy
You can think of a proxy as a middleman. When you are online, this software intercepts the traffic coming from your computer before the traffic reaches the destination server.
Proxies can help with bypassing geo-blocked websites. For example, if you are in France and want to watch a show on Hulu, a proxy will send a US IP address to Hulu servers. You will then be able to unblock Hulu and enjoy your show.
As good as this might sound, a proxy has several downsides. For one, popular sites like Netflix and Hulu can easily notice that you are using a proxy. Therefore, there is a real risk of being locked out of these sites sooner, rather than later.
Additionally, unlike VPN, a proxy does not hide your online traffic. This means your online activities are exposed to the full glare of your ISP, hackers, and any third party who can access your data.
Clearly, this is not a great choice for safe torrenting.
Lastly, a premium VPN will not interfere with your internet speeds. However, with a proxy, be prepared to put up with buffering, which is obviously very frustrating.
Tor Network
If you are looking for a cheap way to hide your virtual location, the Tor network might be worth a shot. Tor is basically a network of volunteer-operated servers that intercept your traffic before it gets to the destination server.
By sending your traffic through multiple servers, Tor masks your real IP address so that the destination server cannot tell the origin of the traffic.
While Tor is free and can help with accessing blocked websites, it is prone to all sorts of criminal activities. In fact, it is categorized as the dark web given that some people use it for illicit transactions.
Unsurprisingly, ISPs and government agencies closely monitor this network, which makes your data even more exposed.
Finally, as you might have already guessed, passing your traffic through all those multiple servers is time-consuming. For this reason, Tor can bring your internet speed to a crawl.
Summary
As you can see, there are several ways to hide your location online. However, a VPN is your best bet if you really want to stay under your ISP’s radar, successfully unblock your favorite shows, and stay safe from possible criminal entities online.
Additionally, it pays to invest in a premium service like ExpressVPN so you can then easily visit the best torrent sites without worrying about your ISP spying on you.
Flo is the founder of the-bestvpn.com. Really concerned about security on internet, he decided to create this website in order to help everyone find the best VPN. He’s got a Business School background and now is 100% dedicated to keeping his website alive.
