Three ways a VPN helps you (that you probably didn’t know about)

If you are a customer (or potential customer) of Private WiFi, you probably know that a VPN protects everything you do online by encrypting your information so that hackers and anyone else on the same network can’t snoop on you. After all, data moving across WiFi networks are just like radio waves and anyone with the right equipment can “listen in.”

But there are other, not so obvious ways in which a VPN like Private WiFi can help you. Read on to find out more!

A VPN stops your ISP from tracking you

Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) wants to know everything it can about you and other subscribers, including your surfing history, location data, and app usage, so it can sell this information to third-party advertisers (and anyone else who wants to buy it). It turns out your personal data is actually worth a lot of money.

If the idea of your personal data being sold to the highest bidder concerns you, then rest assured: using a VPN masks your identity so that it’s impossible for your ISP (or anyone else for that matter) to track you.

A VPN blocks websites from gathering your information

Almost all websites gather information about you when you visit them, and some of these websites even track you long after you’ve left their site via cookies left on your computer or mobile device.

While websites use this information to target specific information at you, such as when Amazon.com displays items based on your past purchases, what they’re really interested in is your browsing history, so they can target ads at you.

You’ve probably noticed this when you search for something on Amazon, and then visit another website, which just happens to be displaying ads for the exact item you just searched on.

Combine this online information with information gathered from offline data brokers, and the amount of information companies know about you is exponentially multiplied. Data brokers are companies that compile information such as your age, race, sex, weight, height, marital status, education level, political beliefs, buying habits, household health, vacation dreams, and more from publically available data.  It’s a multi-billion dollar industry.

Does this largely unseen data gathering bother you? It should. Luckily, a VPN like Private WiFi keeps your IP address hidden so websites can’t gather, store, and sell your personal browsing history and other personal information.

A VPN lets you access blocked content

Are you visiting Europe and want to watch movies on your Netflix account? You can’t do it if Netflix thinks you’re doing this from a foreign country. This is known as geo-blocking, and refers to the process when Internet content is blocked based on a user’s location.

Or maybe you live in a country where certain websites are banned, such as in China or North Korea.

With a VPN like Private WiFi, you can choose the location of the server you want to connect to, making it seem like you are in another place than you actually are.

Private WiFi protects your privacy

So while you may only use Private WiFi because you want to encrypt your data, there’s other ways in which Private WiFi is protecting you. Whether stopping your ISP or websites from tracking you, or letting you access blocked content, Private WiFi is here to help whenever you need us.