How to Use a VPN to Watch Local News While Traveling
Some people like to travel for leisure and others need to travel for work. And while traveling gives you new experiences, there is something it takes away – being in touch with the local news.
When you try to watch your local news channel from outside the country, it might show you an error message that their content is not available in your country.
How do you stay connected to the local news when you travel abroad?
Before we find a way to stay connected, let’s see why local news won’t play when you are outside the country.
When you connect to the online channel of the local news, they can see your IP address. Your IP address is a string of numbers that is assigned to you when you connect to the internet. This number gives out some information about you, such as your geo-location.
So when you are abroad and use your hotel’s Wi-Fi to go online, the news channel can see that the request is coming from another country and thus it does not let you connect.
VPN – a simple solution
When you use a VPN, you can change your IP address and thus your geo-location.
Here’s how a VPN works:
A VPN company has a network of servers and it redirects your traffic through one of its servers to hide your true IP. So if you are traveling from the UK to the US and want to connect to the local channel, such as BBC, you will need to connect to a UK server.
When you connect to a UK server, your traffic will be redirected through it and the BBC server will think that the request originated from within the UK. Now you can use the iPlayer and watch the local news without any issues.
Other benefits of VPNs
A VPN will not just redirect your traffic to hide your IP address but also encrypt your traffic. If you connect to the internet using the airport Wi-Fi or your hotel Wi-Fi and you are scared that someone might be listening to your conversations, don’t worry because a VPN will keep you safe.
A VPN encrypts your connection, which means if there’s a hacker on the network, they will not be able to read the data you’re transmitting.
So while a VPN is a great tool to be used abroad, it can also be used when you are not traveling.
