There are plenty of ways to use VPN services, and there is no shortage of online articles giving details of its many uses. However, there are many times when people are using VPN services, but they are not using it to its full extent, or they are using it incorrectly. Here are a few of the most common issues regarding VPN services. These are things you should consider if you really want to get the most out of your VPN service.

Make Sure Your Kill Switch is Set Up

On almost every VPN service, there is a kill switch. If you are using your VPN service and your service drops out, the kill switch will instantly kick you off the Internet. This ensures that nothing you are doing, downloading or uploading is leaked. It ensures that nobody gets a glance at what you are doing.

Most VPNs have the kill switch automatically activated, but you should check it out for yourself. Look through the options or preferences. There is probably an on/off switch, or a tick box. Make sure the kill switch is activated (on) before you use your VPN service.

Try Out Different Servers When Downloading

Sometimes, amateur animators and filmographers will release their work on Torrents rather than on YouTube or a streaming service. This is often because they do not like the censorship that is included in such platforms, and/or because they do not like to feed the media giants. However, as you are downloading the video on BitTorrent, you may notice it going a little slowly.

Consider switching servers. Try other locations in your own country and try them in other countries too. You may discover that some of your downloads suddenly start working again, and others start going faster. You should also try different servers (national and international) if you are having trouble getting onto a website, perhaps because it says the website is banned, or perhaps because the website is not loading.

Turn On Your VPN While Using Apps Too

Few people remember that apps are not perfect. Just because something is featured on the Play store or the Microsoft or Apple store, it doesn’t mean the app is safe. It may not have viruses, but there is no telling where your information is going when that app connects to the Internet. When you use your app with VPN activated, it is true that other people may still harvest a little of your information, but they will have no idea where it is coming from or how relevant it is to anything they are working on.

Do not underestimate how easily an app can be compromised. Even if the developers have good intentions, they may have nefarious staff, or a hacker may have installed a backdoor in the app. Plus, there are plenty of exploits that make any sort of app vulnerable. Take the HeartBleed exploit that was going on for years, even the likes of Facebook were helpless against it. Those using VPN during the HeartBleed years were in no danger at all (both when using it for apps and when using it for web browser access to Facebook).

Forget Discounts and Go Antiquing

Let’s say that you go on eBay looking for antique plates from India. You go on the Indian eBay, use Google Translate, and you find an interesting piece, but it will cost you $900 including shipping. You then sign into your account using an Indian server, and you notice other plates that were not there last time, and they are considerably cheaper. What is going on?

As we all know, there is a fair amount of price discrimination on Amazon, especially when it comes to books where authors sell for a lot cheaper to people in their country. However, few people know that eBay is loaded with price discrimination too. This is not always the fault of the seller, there are many occasions where extra hidden fees are tagged on as stealth taxes for exported goods. This is especially true when the exported goods are high value, like with antiques.

Plus, there are stealth bans for certain products in several countries, and they apply to eBay too. As a result, not only do you notice different prices when you sign into the eBay through different servers, but you also see an array of sales that you simply wouldn’t see if you were logging into to eBay from your home country, and that even includes if you log into the other country’s version of eBay from your home country. As a side note, do not use VPN to buy things on eBay that you shouldn’t be buying. For example, the ban on buying Jade from certain countries should be maintained, as well as bans on buying parts of endangered species. Do not abuse VPN to break the law in this manner. You can use VPN to avoid price discrimination when buying:

• Paper books and e-Books
• Antiques
• Jewelry
• Bulk-buy goods
• Vacations
• Hotel stays
• Flights

Download From Blocked Websites

For the sake of argument, and without exposing this website to legal issues, let’s say you have a piece of software on your computer that downloads videos off the Internet. Perhaps it downloads videos from a website call ViewTube and Cornhub. You notice that some videos on those websites are not accessible from your home country and will only play if you use a server in the USA, or in the UK, or in Europe.

If you have your regular Internet running, and you insert the link from the video into your downloader, you notice how it will not download the video. However, if you have your VPN service running prior to starting your download program, and then you insert the link and click download, the video should download normally.