Home Technology Just Moved to a Restrictive Country? You Might Need a VPN!

Just Moved to a Restrictive Country? You Might Need a VPN!

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Just Moved to a Restrictive Country? You Might Need a VPN!

Traveling is a good opportunity to see things from a different perspective and discover a lot of new things, but moving to a new country is a different vibe. Especially if you decide to go off the beaten path and choose to live in underrated destinations, like Russia or China.

However, these beautiful countries come with a little (or big depending on how much this affects you) drawback – Internet censorship. But the good news is that you can still bypass censorship. VPNs can unblock sites, streaming services (Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Hulu), and work-related apps (Skype, Google Apps, Slack, Gmail).

You already went out of your comfort zone when you decided to move to another country – you don’t have to give up your favorite TV series and social channels too.

So here’s everything you need to know about how a VPN works in a restrictive country!

How Can a VPN Bypass Internet Censorship?

Let’s say you’re in China and you want to log into your Facebook account.

Well, you can’t. The Great Firewall of China automatically blocks Facebook’s IP and URL. Since you’re using a Chinese ISP, the firewall will be notified when you’re trying to use Facebook and it’ll prevent you from doing it.

But a VPN will hide your IP and will reroute your traffic through another server. Top VPN providers have servers all around the globe, so let’s say you’ll connect to a VPN server in South Korea.

Once you connect to a VPN, the only thing a Chinese ISP can see is gibberish. Technically, the ISP sees that your traffic is encrypted, but that’s all – they can’t tell what you’re doing online.

And since you’re using an IP from South Korea (that doesn’t have firewall restrictions linked to it), you can use Facebook as usual, with no restrictions whatsoever.

How Can You Unblock Censored Content with a VPN?

The best part about using a VPN is that it’s pretty intuitive so you don’t need technical knowledge or, even worse, developer skills to use it.

Here’s what you need to do to bypass government censorship and enjoy your favorite movies:

  1. Sign up for a reliable VPN (like NordVPN).
  2. Download the VPN provider’s app and install it on your device.
  3. Open the app and connect to a VPN server – make sure you choose a country where your favorite TV series are available.
  4. Once you’re connected, access any site you want.

That’s all – you don’t have dozens of complicated instructions, just 4 easy steps.

Do VPNs Work in Restrictive Countries?

Yes, but not all of them.

For a VPN to work in a restrictive country. it has to do 2 important things:

  1. It needs to use obfuscation.
  2. It needs to refresh its IPs frequently.

Now let’s shed some light on these 2 things.

Obfuscation is a security feature that encrypts your connection even more. It basically hides your VPN traffic, making it look like regular internet traffic. This way, government surveillance agencies and local ISPs won’t know that you’re using a VPN.

However, keep in mind that any extra layer of security that you add to your connection will make it slower.

Now, regarding refreshing IPs. Thing is, it’s pretty easy to block a VPN – all you have to do is block its server IPs. To avoid that, VPN providers lease new IPs regularly. The more frequently they do that, the less likely the government is to successfully block them.

However, not every VPN provider can do this because refreshing IPs constantly can be very expensive. One good example of a VPN that constantly refreshes its IPs is VyprVPN, which has 300,000+ IPs all over the world (and its proprietary Chameleon protocol obfuscates your traffic and refreshes your IP too).

If Websites and Apps Are Banned, Aren’t VPN Sites Blocked as Well?

Yes, many restrictive countries block VPN websites too. It’s not very easy to download a VPN when you’re already there.

The best way to have access to a VPN in a restrictive country is to contact the VPN providers before you move. Tell them the country where you intend to move for a while, and they’ll give you a mirrored link.

Mirrored links look like a string of random symbols, numbers, and letters, and when you access them, they look like a perfect replica of the original VPN provider’s website. Here’s an example of one of NordVPN’s mirrored links – https://cqxqlbe.site/download/.

In time, the government can track and ban these mirrored links as well so it’s crucial to talk with your VPN provider directly. This way, you’ll get accurate and fresh mirrored links, and you don’t risk accessing something that doesn’t work.

Conclusion

The best way to have access to a VPN in a restrictive country is to do your research and sign up and install a VPN before you leave the country. And since you’re already at the end of the article – congratulations! You’ve already accomplished the first task – research!

Now the only thing that’s left to do is to find a good, reliable, and secure VPN. Usually, top VPNs like ExpressVPN and NordVPN are always a good choice – so it’s just a matter of preferences if you choose one or another.

As a rule of thumb, you can check online reviews and make a decision based on them. Of course, if you have any questions, most VPN providers have a 24/7 live chat so they can answer all your questions

Have you traveled to a restrictive country? If yes, how was your experience? Tell us everything about your adventure and please share a few tips that made living in another country more welcoming!