If you ever wanted to change your own IP address and you've thought how complex that process is, we're here to convince you otherwise and teach you to change your IP address with ease. After you read this article, you will be able to fake your geolocation on any device, and you will know everything about geo-spoofing, its advantages and disadvantages, and much other information.
When you connect to a server while you use your VPN, your IP address is going to become the address of the VPN. The end result is that it will appear as if you’re in a different location than your true physical location. By changing your IP address, you will be able to get access to geo-restricted content like certain streaming platforms and various sites. By using the geo-spoofing method, you will be able to get access to any content from any location in the world.
What is Geo-spoofing?
With geo-spoofing, your IP address and the device that you’re using appears to be in a different location than your true physical location. In short, it hides your real location. For example, if you’re living in the UK, and you connect to a US server, it would appear as if you’re currently residing in the United States. You may think that this isn’t easy to do, but really it is quite simple to do with the help of proper tools.
There are two ways where you can hide the real whereabouts of your device, whether it’s a laptop or a PC. If you want these two methods to work, you would have to connect to a server in a location where you can access certain content that you were earlier unable to do with your true physical location.
The first of the methods would be to use something that is called a proxy service. A proxy acts as a type of middleman between the Internet and the device that you’re currently using. The proxy service channels your Internet traffic through a server that changes your real location, and it will appear as if you’re in a different location than your true one. These proxy services may be hard to set up for the average user, and definitely require some extensive knowledge about computers and other electronic devices.
The far less complicated and the second method that would help to hide your location would be a VPN or a Virtual Private Network. By using a VPN, you will hide your IP and computer address, which means that it would appear like you're living in a totally different region or country. Another perk of using a VPN is that your internet connection is encrypted, which means that the VPN offers you proper protection from cyber-criminals and third parties.
Also, by being a VPN user, your privacy will not be endangered, and you can freely surf the Internet without being afraid that someone can steal your personal info and data. The encryption software of the VPN gives you the confidence to use a public Wi-fi connection as if you’re using the Wi-fi connection in your household.
What is geo-restricted content?
A lot of streaming services alter access to the users based on the country or region in which they live. International streaming rights dictate them to do so. Websites or streaming platforms that have geo-restricted content will block every request that comes from outside of the service region. This is the reason why you can't have full access to the US Netflix content when you're traveling, and you're not in the country anymore.
There's also government censorship that can also block certain content. Countries like North Korea have extreme censorship, and without geo-spoofing, you won’t be able to surf the Internet without restrictions.
If you want to freely browse the Web, then geo-spoofing would be the right method to use.
Geo-Spoofing advantages
As we’ve mentioned earlier, geo-spoofing is perfect if you want to get access to content that is geo-restricted. On its own, this ability would be quite sufficient in convincing you to buy a VPN pricing plan and use one of the geo-spoofing methods. But, geo-spoofing has many other perks that we will soon reveal to you.
Protecting your privacy is one of the major reasons why you should use geo-spoofing. The thing about your IP address is that it gives away info about your true location to basically any app or website that you visit while you’re surfing the Internet, even if you don’t allow them to collect your personal info. This way, you can be tracked with ease, but there’s a solution to this problem, and that is geo-spoofing.
With geo-spoofing, you can successfully escape government surveillance. Some authoritative regimes are known for spying on their residents, but even countries that promote democracy can also spy on the Internet activities of their citizens.
Apart from avoiding government surveillance, geo-spoofing with a Virtual Private Network also has some extra tricks up its sleeve. You should know that every VPN brand is going to make your internet connection encrypted. This means that the government will not be able to track your online activity or your Internet traffic, which means your privacy will be protected.
VPN features that can come in real handy are the well-known kill switch as well as malware protection. The kill switch is a fantastic security feature. It will kill your Internet connection if you lose your VPN connection, and you will be able to surf the Internet when the VPN connection is restored once again. With malware protection, you’re safe from any harmful software that wants to get ahold of your data and personal info.
Another benefit of geo-spoofing with a Virtual Private Network is that you will get somewhat improved connection speeds. The majority of Internet Service Providers are decreasing your connection speeds depending on what websites you’re visiting. There are some ISPs that will not direct your Internet traffic through the best possible route. In the moments of high traffic, your ISP can also limit you from downloading big files, and accessing some websites. This is called Internet throttling. Because your traffic is encrypted, your ISP won't be able to know your real location, and you can download large files and access any website when there's high traffic, and you will avoid Internet throttling.
How to hide your location with a VPN?
Changing your IP address with the help of a VPN is the right way to geo-spoof. A lot of VPN services will make this easy for you, and before you know it, you will be surfing the Web with a different location.
Follow the next steps, and in a couple of minutes, you will change your location with the aid of a Virtual Private Network:
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- First, you have to select a VPN provider. If you want to have access to the content of popular streaming platforms like Netflix or Amazon, you should probably choose a VPN that is ideal for unblocking geo-restricted content.
- Then, you should visit the website of the VPN.
- Then download the VPN app and install the VPN on a device of your liking. The majority of VPN services have guides that will help you to easily get through the process of installation
- Choose and connect to a certain VPN server in the region of your preference.
- The moment you get a VPN connection, your IP address will be hidden.
Is it safe to geo-spoof?
In general, it is safe to geo-spoof, but in some situations, it could be dangerous, and we will explain to you when could that be the case.
When you’re geo-spoofing, there’s a possibility of DNS ( Domain Name System) poisoning. What DNS server does is that it translates the web address, which you searched for in your browser to an IP address that is linked to that particular web address. After that, the browser will be able to access the site that you typed in your search bar.
When you change your true location, meaning that you change your IP address, it could happen that you get directed to an IP address that is fraudulent rather than the real IP address of the site that you've searched. A fraudulent IP address might spread malware and impose certain limits on your Internet access, which is definitely something that you would not want to happen to you while you're browsing the Web. Also, this IP address could give out your personal information to cyber-criminals, which can use that information to invade your privacy and use it for criminal purposes.
Nevertheless, when you use a VPN, it will have its own DNS servers. There’s a strong possibility that you will not be a victim of DNS poisoning, because your Internet traffic is going to get past your Internet Service Providers and any DNS servers that could turn out to be infected.
Make a Fake Geolocation When you Plan A Vacation
Let’s say you’re planning a trip, and on your browser, you want to look at the prices of flights to your desired location. If you search for prices of flights on a normal browser, then the flight websites would know that you typed on their website in your search bar. By knowing your real location, the flight websites could boost the prices, because they know where the search came from. If you’re looking for the price of flights on a normal browser without using a Virtual Private Network, the prices will be much higher the next time you make an identical search.
So, if you want to make fake geolocation, use a VPN with your browser, because that way, with another location, the prices of flights would probably be much lower than the prices when you used a normal browser without a VPN provider.
Also, a VPN could be quite useful in one more scenario. You're traveling, and you're having great trouble to reach Internet services that you have from your home because of the geo-restrictions. If you want to have the service from your home, then it would be best if you use a VPN provider. With a VPN service, you will be able to get Internet access from your home, while you’re abroad. To do this, you only have to connect to a server that is located in the country where you live.
Should you use a free VPN to change your real location?
Nowadays, there are a lot of free VPNs with great features, but they do not offer the quality of service like the paid VPNs. If you want to geo-spoof, it would be best if you avoid free VPNs because they don’t have a wide range of servers and locations like the VPNs where you have to pay a certain fee in order to subscribe to that VPN. Also, free VPNs don’t have great connection speeds, which is also a major downside. Due to the often overload of servers, the connection speeds are quite low.
Free VPNs do not perform that well, and the end result is the low speeds. This is not so great when you want to watch something on a streaming platform or when you want to download some torrent files. Even if there’s a free VPN that has decent connection speeds, there’s a real chance you won’t be able to access geo-restricted content. The majority of these free VPNs can’t unblock the most famous streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and so on.
Your security and privacy will also be at risk if you use free VPN. There's a possibility that your data isn't encrypted, which means that you will be vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
All in all, if you want to change your IP address and your true location, it is highly recommended that you use a paid VPN because you will be well-protected, and you will be able to get access to geo-restricted content.
Geo-spoofing conclusion
With geo-restrictions, watching your favorite streaming content could be a real problem. But, thanks to geo-spoofing, you will be able to get past geo-restrictions and enjoy in your streaming content even though you live in a country where the big portion of the content is blocked.
