• Overcome censorship in countries like China, Iran, UAE, etc.
• Access blocked and geo-restricted websites
• Watch Hulu.com, Pandora.com, ABC.com, BBC.co.uk from anywhere
• Protect yourself from snoopers at Wi-Fi hotspots, hotels, airports, corporate offices and ISP hubs.
• Hide your IP address for your privacy online

IPREDator

World’s most famous BitTorrent network ThePirateBay launched in June 2009 its own VPN service. Unlike any other VPN service, IPREDATOR assures that no user activity logs of any kind are stored. The VPN service was designed to give you a private and 100% secure internet access. It uses 128bit encryption to make sure that no one, not even your IPS, is able to peek in your data transfers.

The name of the service mocks the Swedish Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) legislation which empowers copyright holders to get personal details of file-sharing users from ISP’s.

>> IPREDator

HideIpVPN

HideIpVPN was launched in September 2009 and it’s a very popular VPN service, according to Hide-IP-Tools.com. The service hides your IP address (using VPN technology) and exposes UK or US IP addresses instead of your real one. This allows you to unblock a lost of restricted sites and protect your online privacy.

One of the most appreciated features of HideIpVPN service is that it offers 100 free accounts each month.

>> HideIpVPN]

AceVPN

Ace VPN is a VPN service that you can use to privately and securely surf and download on the internet without leaving a trace and/or being tracked. Besides the free version that is by invitation only, Ace VPN offers a premium service for $5/month. AceVPN allows P2P traffic only for premium accounts.

AceVPN requests their users to limit the upload and the download speed to 100kbps so that it does not affect other users on the network.

>> AceVPN

ItsHidden

ItsHidden is a free VPN that works on BitTorrent (BT) traffic including uploading and downloading transfer. Thus, it’s useful for users who torrent traffic been throttled by their ISP, or users who need to hide for anti-piracy organizations from sharing copyrighted materials.

>> ItsHidden

TheFreeVPN

TheFreeVPN is a free service that lets users surf the web privately also allowing them to bypass internet censorship. Unfortunately, it comes with a price: annoying ads. You can choose from 3 US servers (one special for watching Hulu), 3 UK servers and 1 Canada server (this is the only free Canada VPN that I know!).

>> TheFreeVPN – No longer available in the list of VPN services 2009.

HideMyAss

HideMyAss Pro VPN is one of the best VPN services 2009 as it is an easy to use application which anonymously encrypts your entire internet connection. The tool automatically works with any application or protocol including p2p/bit-torrent.

>> HideMyAss

12vpn

12vpn is a reliable VPN service with three server locations for OpenVPN, PPTP, and L2TP setups, based in the UK and US. What I like most about 12vpn is that you can switch servers, if you wish, by logging in to your account area and selecting another, but 12vpn maintains that it auto-selects the best choice for you based on your location.

>> 12vpn

StrongVPN, the American based company established in 1995, is one of the best and reliable VPN services on the market. The number of servers and locations is imposing. Servers located in US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Canada are available.

Why would you look for StrongVPN alternatives?

Even if StrongVPN is one of the top VPN providers, you may have your reasons to leave StrongVPN and search for other VPN providers. Some users complain about the support. The response time is long, and some questions are never answered.

How to look for alternatives?

Firstly, you should analyze your experience with StrongVPN and make your mind on what you need. Do you need faster reply to your tickets or faster connection speed? Is the price an issue? If so, you may find cheaper providers.

Secondly, take a look at the list below or just search Google. You will find plenty of StrongVPN alternatives. Do not jump on the first one that looks good! Take your time and look for user reviews and reviews written by bloggers. These will help you make an informed choice.

7 StrongVPN alternatives – Top VPN providers

If you are looking for StrongVPN options, I have selected several VPN services that have an extended number of servers, offer excellent support, and the price is lower that StrongVPN for similar service.

Additional tips

StrongVPN provides access to a large number of servers/locations, and it offers an excellent service. When switching to an alternative provider, it may happen that you are not happy. Or maybe, you are not satisfied with the support or connection speed.

To prevent any hassle, my advice is to create a trial account first (if the provider allows it) or create a subscription for the smallest period available (one or 3 months). Thus, you will be able to thoroughly test the alternative service before committing to a more extended billing agreement.

Please share your experience StrongVPN and its alternatives in the comments below.

UK VPN services provide your computer with a “virtual” connection to a VPN server, and it then behaves exactly as it would if you were actually in the United Kingdom.

What is a VPN with a UK IP address?

If you are traveling outside the UK or you are a UK expat, you may still get access to British TV shows that are streamed online even if they are geo-restricted. By subscribing to a VPN service (yes, you will need a VPN) and connecting to a server located in the UK. Such a server usually exposes a UK IP address, and it is seen as a regular UK Internet user. The good news is that most VPN providers offer access to UK servers. Take a look below at an extensive list of important description details about each provider.

What you can do with a VPN

With a VPN account, you can enjoy a vast array of services with your active VPN subscription; you can easily access Hulu, Netflix, or even use BBC iPlayer wherever you may be in the world! VPN for the UK will readily accept payments in pounds, use Paypal, or even credit card payments for your convenience.

Moreover, you do not need to be an internet geek to configure a VPN service online and unblock British TV. The VPN service provider will give you a step-by-step guideline for you to set up your VPN connection, and you will have your PC connect to any website you wish (including blocked sites), in as little as 5 minutes!

Besides unblocking streaming channels a VPN (Virtual Private Network) also provides increased online security, will protect you from ISP (Internet Service Provider) tracking, will help you stay secure while using public Wi-fi networks, will hide your online activities. Thus, using a VPN is a must these-days. But also keep in mind the VPN disadvantages.

United Kingdom VPN downsides

You may have imagined yourself watching UK TV shows or programs on the web from a remote country in the world, and you think to yourself this is just impossible! Currently, you can do that, but there are several downsides, which in mind aren’t that burdensome. They are as follows:

• Buffering. You will experience video buffering half-way through your streaming. This is normal, however, if it persists try contacting your VPN service provider and ask for a new IP address on a new server that has a faster connection.
• Connection dropping. If you happen to encounter an abrupt stop on your internet connection, reconnect your VPN, or refresh your connection. It may happen occasionally, but you should not worry about it as you can always contact your VPN service provider for technical support.

Although these are not somewhat technical problems, you can somehow carry on with your viewing and ignore such temporary nuances from time to time. Imagine all the amazing benefits you will get if you can conveniently access British TV shows and programs wherever you are? It is reason enough to continue and persist with your VPN monthly subscription account.

What channels can you access using UK VPN services?

It is very probable that you already know what site you want to unlock. Anyway, I am going to list several of the channels that I follow. If you know others that worth mentioning, please share them in the comments.

• BBC iPlayer – Great for watching Formula 1, Master Chef, EastEnders, Louis Theroux, Poldark, Ordinary Lies, and many more.
• ITV – Champions League, Saturday Night Takeaway, Emmerdale, Coronation Street, TOWIE, etc.
• Sky Go – Arrow, Game of Thrones, Blacklist, and many more.
• UTV – Britain’s Got Talent, Big American Food Trip, Vera, etc.
• Channel 4 – Indian Summers, The 100, Supernatural, PokerStars.com, Raised by Wolves, Gogglebox, etc.
• BlinkBox – Latest movies: Paddington, Interstellar, The Hobbit, Better Call Saul, etc.
• Wuaki TV –  The most popular UK TV series, and the best films from independent filmmakers.
• 4Music – For thosewho love music and pop culture.
• AbsoluteRadio – Live music, Rock ‘N’ Roll Football.

List of VPNs with UK servers

After some extensive search, I have found 15 good United Kingdom VPN services (probably the best VPNs) that offer UK IP addresses. If you are interested, take a look below and don’t forget to share your experience with us after you try one.

1. NordVPN – Probably the best VPN on the market with plenty of server locations. It is fast, reliable, and it offers great value for the money. Additionally, you may benefit from the 30-day money-back guarantee policy.
2. HMA –It provides access to over 800 servers in 300+ locations in 182 countries. More, HMA VPN offers over 113,309 VPN IPs, keeps changing between them, and you need never appear in the same place for long. For only $11.32 per month. About 100 servers in the UK.
3. ibVPN – One of my favorite VPN providers (take a look at my extensive ibVPN review)., probably the best VPN for torrenting. The guys that handle the support are very friendly and helpful. You may try the service for 24 hours for free (no credit card required) and, even after you subscribe, you benefit from 15 days money-back guarantee. Prices start from $4.95 per month and offer access to about 10 servers located in the UK. More than that the service includes Smart DNS access, advanced technology for unblocking websites, including the ones mentioned above. Also, you may benefit from 5 simultaneous connections, DNS leak protection, WebRTC leak protection, Stealth VPN, Double VPN, and Tor over VPN.
4. PureVPN – Great VPN provider with a lot of servers and many add-ons that can help you do a lot of VPN related stuff. There are plenty of UK servers to choose from and 5 simultaneous connections. Thus the access to UK channels is ensured. The starting price is $9.95/month with lower rates for annual and semi-annual plans. You may choose from various payment options.
5. StrongVPN – One of the oldest players in the VPN market, provides access to hundreds of servers all over the World and more than 20 in the UK. StrongVPN is somehow expensive, starting from $15/month.
6. HideIPVPN – HideIPVPN is a smaller provider, with a limited number of servers and locations. But it provides excellent access to UK servers for $5.99 per month. Also, Smart DNS is included in more expensive plans. The support is excellent and the server speed is quite good.
7. VyprVPN – It is one of the biggest VPNs, advertised as the World’s fastest VPN. With 700+ servers and 200,000+ global IPs, connections are always available. Prices start at $6.67/month. It may be a good choice for those looking for a specific location for their UK server.
8. TunnelBear – Probably the nicest VPN service with great design and wonderful site. Simply great! It is built with love for those that prefer a very friendly and funny service. The apps are so easy to use that even computer illiterates are capable of using them without any issues. No much to say about the number of servers, as you are only allowed to choose the country, not the exact server location. You can even get a free (but limited) version of the service, but the premium packages start at $4.99/month. Highly recommended for those looking for an ON/OFF VPN button.
9. IPVanish – With 10 VPN servers in the UK you can surely access the sites you want. IPVanish offers access to the Tier-1 VPN network, and the server speed is excellent. They provide access to hundreds of servers all over the World. All for $10/month.
10. BoxPN – BoxPN is a good provider, with a limited number of UK IP servers. From $9.99/month.
11. ExpressVPN – Important VPN service with a high number of servers. High speed, ultra-secure, and easy to use. Instant setup. 30 Day Money Back Guarantee. It starts at $12.95/month.
12. Witopia – It can bypass blocks from UK content providers, but they only offer annual plans for $49.99.
13. CyberGhost VPN – Very modern provider with excellent looking applications, good servers, and great support. CyberGhost VPN also offers free access to traffic limitations. Premium subscriptions are available starting at $6.99/month. Highly recommended for German speakers.
14. Private Internet Access – Another big player (take a look at my PrivateInternetAccess review), with several unique payment methods like Ripple, Stellar, Gift Cards. The PIA VPN apps are user-friendly and offer strong encryption. It is quite popular these days. Available for $6.95/month.
15. VPN Tunnel – The Swedish VPN is an excellent provider with several servers in the UK. The accessing price starts at 9.99 Euro per month.

Of course, there are several free VPN providers that also offer access to servers in the United Kingdom. However, most free VPNs are already blocked by popular streaming channels. So, they are of no use when it comes to watching your favorite streaming website.

Conclusion

To sum up, most of the sites that stream British shows can be unblocked from the outside UK using United Kingdom VPNs. The only condition is to choose a provider that offers servers located in the UK. Further, if you are not happy with the speed provided by the VPNs, you may also consider a SmartDNS service like the one offered extra by ibVPN, PureVPN, or HideIPVPN.

Enjoy!

Most VPN providers have a disclaimer or clause in their TOS to forbid the use of their services for P2P traffic of any nature (illegal or not). Learn how to find the proper P2P VPN provider and secure your downloads.

What is a DMCA complaint?

A DMCA complaint or Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice is a notification to a company that they are either hosting or linking to copyright-infringing material. The notice asks for the removal of the copyrighted works.

When a VPN user downloads copyrighted materials (movies, books, etc.), then the IP of the VPN server can be seen by those who monitor illegal downloads (it’s another story who these persons/companies are) as the source of the download. Next, a DMCA notice is sent to the hosting provider of the specific VPN server. Finally, the complaint is forwarded to the VPN provider.

When a VPN provider receives a DMCA complaint, it needs to reply with the proper response and needs to take action to prevent these kinds of actions. In the case of repeated DMCA complaints, the hosting provider may terminate the contract with the VPN company.

Many VPN servers got suspended by server hosting providers due to DMCA complaints. That is why VPN providers are cautious when it comes to P2P downloading traffic.

What is a P2P VPN service?

A P2P VPN or torrent VPN provider is a VPN service that allows its users to download torrents while connected to VPN servers. These services are also called “VPNs for torrents.”

How does such a provider deal with the DMCA complaints? It is not a simple question to answer. Some of the VPN companies use their servers and somehow ignore the DMCA notices. Others have contracts with hosting providers from countries (Netherlands, Lithuanian, Ukraine, Luxembourg, Russia) where the legislation is more relaxed regarding the torrent downloads, or it is not strictly applied. The fact is that, in a way or another, the DMCA complaints don’t affect the users and neither the VPN providers.

>> Is torrenting with VPN legal?

A must-have: KillSwitch

An essential feature when it comes to VPN torrent downloads is the KillSwitch. You need to make sure the provider has it to protect your online identity.

The KillSwitch is a fail-safe mechanism that disables your Internet connection or closes downloading apps when the VPN connection drops. Thus, even if the VPN fails your real IP address will not be exposed.

The best torrent VPN services

Are there free VPN providers right for torrenting anonymously? The answer is … NO.

Thus, you need to take into consideration premium services. Take a look below to 7 VPN services that can be used for anonymizing your torrent traffic, torrent VPN services. They all offer fast download speed, unlimited bandwidth, simultaneous connections, access to SOCKS proxies, advanced protection against leaks (WebRTC leak, DNS leak, IPv6 leak), money-back guarantee.

PureVPN

PureVPN is a top VPN provider with hundreds of servers located all over the World. The torrent traffic is allowed on certain servers. The PureVPN Kill Switch is available for the Windows client and closes down all Internet activities if the VPN fails for any reason.

ibVPN

ibVPN is an excellent VPN for torrent as it offers P2P friendly servers located in the Netherlands, Ukraine, Luxembourg, Canada, Sweden, Lithuania, Russia, and Hong Kong. They even have a special package called “Torrent VPN.” Also, you may benefit from their StealthVPN, Double VPN and Onion over VPN servers. You may try it with the 6-hour free trial account and read our complete ibVPN review.

The ibVPN Kill Switch function is available to their Windows and macOS VPN apps. It closes certain apps from a has to be defined (e.g., torrent apps).

PrivateInternetAccess

Another good provider for torrent downloading protection is PIA or PrivateInternetAccess (read our complete PIA review). They have an interesting approach regarding p2p traffic: it is redirected to certain servers located in the Netherlands.

The Private Internet Access Kill Switch completely stops the Internet connection if you are disconnected from the VPN. The smart feature is that it reactivates regular internet access when you deactivate the Kill Switch mode or exit the application.

HideIPVPN

HideIPVPN provides a smaller number of servers in locations like the Netherlands, Canada, Poland. But they are fast and good for downloading. Application Killer option (Kill Switch) is also available.

NordVPN

An advanced approached for those interested in anonymizing their downloads is to use Tor over VPN. NordVPN is a VPN service that makes this approach accessible. Thus, you will not only be protected by the VPN but also bu the Tor network.

NordVPN comes with kill switch technology that instantly shuts down any site or software you specify in advance. No worries about the accidental exposure of sensitive data.

TorGuard

TorGuard is a highly secure VPN service with servers optimized for the best possible performance when downloading torrents. It works on any OS, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and more.

IPVanish

Last but least, IPVanish can help you with the torrent downloads. It provides a lot of server locations and, as a top-tier VPN service provider, it provides very fast connection speeds.

Conclusion

If you are a regular user of BitTorrent or other torrent apps you surely need to get access to a VPN service. As mentioned above, not all VPN services allow torrenting through their servers. That is why I have compiled the above list. Also, there are other rules that you should keep in mind to download torrents safely. Enjoy!

Do you know other P2P VPN services?

Are you using a VPN while downloading torrents or another protection tool (like Peerblock)? Feel free to join the discussion below.

Most of the how-to-hide-ip online anonymity guide are already familiar with the VPN solutions that are available out there. Like most of us, there will come a time where your VPN provider will send you a subscription renewal reminder. Learn what you need to check before renewing your VPN subscription.

My experience with ibVPN VPN subscription

This just happened with my ibVPN subscription. They kindly remembered me that my annual subscription is about to expire and that an invoice to renew my annual subscription has been issued. Frankly speaking, it’s a great sales method: from a sales perspective, it’s easier to sell to a customer who already bought your service rather than trying to convince a new one – and I see nothing wrong with it.

But anyway, I’ve got some weird way of thinking, and maybe because I’m covering VPN solutions on this blog, I tend to reconsider every decision that I make when it comes to choosing a VPN solution. As a disclosure note, I am a fully happy ibVPN customer, and I fully endorse them. Just as a reminder, I went for the US+Canada option with ibVPN, especially because I actually needed to pretend that I am in either of those countries when browsing the internet.

Other VPN providers

But as I went through my research when trying to find something else interesting to write for How-to-hide-ip readers, other VPN providers also have interesting offers, especially HideMyAss. With ibVPN, they are great VPN solutions and what I want to highlight in this article is the fact that, depending on your needs, one provider may provide a much more interesting “package” than the other.

Things you need to check …

So back to the title of this article, the thing is to have a great understanding of what you want to achieve. As for my case, a year ago, when I needed to decide on the VPN solution, I knew I needed US and Canadian IP addresses for overcoming some geo-location limitations; I also knew that I didn’t need torrent support with my VPN package and finally, I wanted to be able to pay via Paypal (without exposing my credit card information). One year later, I am tempted to go for a VPN package that also includes UK IPs so that I can watch BBC iPlayer (they recently broadcasted great documentaries about my country

As of today, for example, with the introduction of OverPlay’s SmartDNS feature, this may be interesting to bypass geolocation with a simple trick at the DNS side of things. HideMyAss offers a free web proxy that may be interesting for some use (while I think it’s limited for serious people who want something that is more adapted to their actual needs). And with % 43OFF, HideMyAss is doing a lot of seducing to get my money to their accounts.

Now, if I look at StrongVPN, I kind of like the fact that they have packages that are tailored to my current situation. They have a feature on their website allowing you to chose the best VPN package for you based on your current locations. And for once they have a different pricing depending if you want to use PPTP only (which is cheaper), or if you want to use PPTP and OpenVPN (I’m not aware some other providers does this).

Conclusion

At the end of the day, I may end up choosing ibVPN again (or not). But chances are that I would opt for a different package than the one I chose one year earlier. The public offer for VPN services is changing a lot in a one year space. Why would I not consider those new (and usually more interesting) packages when it comes to renewing my VPN subscription?

What is your VPN provider and how many times have you renewed your VPN subscription? Let us know in the comments below.

If you are not willing or you don’t have sufficient rights to install software on the computer you use for browsing there are only 3 options you can use to hide your IP address and browse anonymously. Learn how to hide your IP address without installing any software.

1. Web Proxies

A web proxy is basically a website that acts as an intermediate between you and the site you visit. You enter the address/URL of the site you want to visit in a text box, press the Submit/Go button and then the proxy asks for the site/page to the webserver where the site/page is located. This way the site you visit is not able to log your real IP address, but the IP of the proxy.

This method is very useful to unblock sites like MySpace, Facebook, Orkut, etc., in schools or at work where such sites are filtered.

There are plenty of proxies you can use. Just google “free web proxy“, “unblock myspace“,  “unblock facebook“, etc. and you’ll get what you need. 

2. Proxies

The second solution involves some manual configuration. You need to set up your browser to use a certain proxy. The configuration is not difficult. Here is how to do it for Firefox, IE, Chrome, and Safari:

• Firefox 3.0: How To Manually Hide Your IP
• How To Manually Hide Your IP Using Internet Explorer 8
• How To Hide Your IP While Browsing Using Google Chrome
• How To Manually Mask Your IP Using Safari 3.x

Now, you need a proxy. There are a lot of sites that list fresh proxies, but finding a good one is a difficult task. Here are several sites where you can start looking:

• SamAir.ru
• Proxy4free.com
• ProxyList.net

3. VPN Services with PPTP protocol

The third option is to look for VPN services that use PPTP protocol, such that they do not require any software installation, just some Windows configuration (you may not have sufficient administrative rights to be able to do this). Here is how to configure Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Some VPN services that use the PPTP protocol are:

• HideMyAss
• ibVPN
• PureVPN

Is web crawling and data scraping part of your daily routine? If so, you already know that most of the websites implement firewalls that automatically block repeated requests coming from the same IP address. The solution? Regularly change your public IP address. Learn how to change IP every X minutes and increase your productivity automatically.

Why automatically change IP?

There are two main reasons for changing your IP automatically every several minutes: to increase the level of anonymity or to automate tasks like web crawling or data scraping.

If you are looking for increasing your online anonymity, the automatic IP rotation virtually changes your online identity and hides your public IP address. Thus, tracking your browsing or downloading activities becomes more difficult (unlikely, but not impossible).

For data scraping and web crawling the frequent change/hide IP address is the way to go. Can it be done manually? Yes. Is it efficient? No. The auto IP rotation is an excellent solution to the problem.

Automatically change IP prerequisites 

The auto-rotate IP is not a trivial task, and the implementation depends on your needs. Before you proceed, you need to ask your self the following: how many IPs you need, on what locations (countries, states) and what is the desired rotating period.

Number of IPs

As mentioned above, if you are in the data scraping business than you need enough different IPs such that you don’t get blocked. How many exactly? It depends on the site you are scraping, on the site firewall, on the scraping frequency, etc. I guess that you need between 20 to 100 IPs for simple tasks, and more for complex data requests.

Number of locations

You may need to change your virtual position with IPs from different parts of the World. Yes, it is possible, but you have to find the proper solution.

Rotating period

How often do you need to have your IP automatically changed? Once every minute, every 5 minutes, once an hour? Some of the solutions to be presented have specific restrictions regarding the rotating frequency, and others are quite flexible. Keep reading.

Methods for rotating IP – Automatic IP changer solutions

I am going to present several solutions that are based on the following approaches:

• Proxies – free solution, requires some manual work, premium proxies available.
• Tor – free solution, depends on the quality of the Tor nodes, more challenging to set up.
• VPN services – the most reliable and safe solution, but the most expensive.

Take a look at the table below that summarizes the main features of the proposed approaches:

1. Elite Proxy Switcher

The first application that I recommend uses proxies: Elite Proxy Switcher. It tests proxies and rotates them. For the free version, you need to get your proxies from proxy list sites. Take a look below at the video tutorial for more details:

After you get the working proxies you may start rotating them: go to Switch > Use the automatic switch and set the switching interval (in seconds). Yes, you may change the IP every second if you need to. 

That’s it! You get the auto change IP feature. Elite Proxy Switcher also offers premium proxies that are already tested daily.

The main downside of the free proxies is that they have a short life and are most of the time unreliable. Thus, you need to check them regularly and add new ones all the time. Another issue (valid for all proxy-based solutions) is that they work only for browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer/Edge), not for other applications. Thus, if you use a particular app that performs the data scraping the Elite Proxy Switcher will not work.

2. TOR + Privoxy

This solution is not easy to be implemented as it requests some technical knowledge. If you are not familiar with Tor and you don’t have any Linux skills than this is not for you.

You need to set up Tor and Privoxy locally. Then, use Stem (Python controller library for Tor) to manage Tor. Here is a good tutorial on how to perform these tasks.

The main advantage of the Tor + Privoxy approach is that it is that you get the auto change IP for free. The downsides include the fact that you can not control the IPs and the locations you get (sometimes, even if you change the node you may get the same Tor IP address). Also, the Tor exists may be slow.

3. ibVPN

Next, a VPN-based solution to auto change IP: ibVPN, an excellent VPN service that may be used to rotate IP addresses.

Start with a free trial from the ibVPN site (now migrated to StrongVPN) and install the All-In-One VPN client for Windows (the macOS app does not include the rotating server’s option, at least not now). After login, go to Servers, select the desired locations/servers as Favorites and click on Rotating Favorites. Eventually, click Connect. The app will change your IP every X minutes (the value of X can be set up from the Settings tab from predefined values: 5, 10, 15, 30, 60 minutes). Thus, you may schedule IP address change as often as you need.

To make sure that the web crawler or data scraper app does not use your real IP I recommend you to switch ON the KillSwitch, a function that cuts the Internet connection while the IP is changed. It worth mentioning that the IP switch is slower when using VPNs than when using proxies, as it requires the setup of a VPN connection, a time-consuming operation (5-30 seconds).

4. IPVanish

IPVanish, another top VPN provider, is also a solution to be considered for the periodic IP address change. The Windows and macOS apps offer access to the Periodic IP address Change feature that you may use to rotate IPs. It comes with two drawbacks: the minimum rotating period is 45 minutes, and you may not select the locations/servers to be rotated.

Important! Your VPN connection will be temporarily interrupted while our app changes your IPVanish IP address.

5. HideMyAss

HideMyAss is (or it was) the preferred tool for those performing data scraping. Unfortunately, the latest versions of the HideMyAss apps (3.x) have removed the rotating IPs feature. Most probably it will be added in future releases.

The good news is that you may still install version 2 of the app. The rotating feature can be found in the IP address settings tab, on the left of the application.  If you are using one device the minimum time of IP change can be 2.5 minutes, and if you are connecting from 2 machines, you can set 5 minutes or more for the automatic IP change.

6. Backconnect proxies

Another proxy solution for rotating IPs is the one implemented by backconnect proxies.

A backconnect proxy is a proxy server that assigns a different IP address every time a proxy connection is established. Backconnect proxies can be configured to rotate certain types of IPs and given intervals.

Rotating IPs with backconnect proxies has the advantage that no additional software needs to be installed, but they are more expensive than regular proxies.

Conclusion

To sum up, the automatically change IP is possible. Firstly, you should know what your needs are and, secondly, select the proper solution. My advice is to give a try to proxies and ibVPN as it offers a free trial. Enjoy!

Do you know other methods for automatically change the IP address? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Are you using HideIPVPN and you are not completely happy with it? This post lists seven good HideIPVPN alternatives for unblocking websites and browse the Internet anonymously. If you know other good VPN providers, please share them in the comments.

HideIPVPN is an excellent VPN (Virtual Private Network) provider. Here is what I appreciate the most to HideIPVPN:

• The simplicity of the VPN apps. They do what is supposed to go smoothly for the primary operating systems.
• The speed of the VPN connection and unlimited traffic.
• The Smart DNS option that easily accesses blocked websites.
• The fact that it offers access to SoftEther VPN protocol.

Why would you look for HideIPVPN alternatives?

HideIPVPN (Hide IP VPN) offers access to servers located United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and France. If you are looking for more locations or more sophisticated options like DoubleVPN, TorOverVPN or Stealth VPN you need to look somewhere else.

How to look for alternatives?

Take a look at the list below or search Google for “alternatives to HideIPVPN.” You will find plenty of HideIPVPN alternatives. Do not jump to the first one that looks good! Take your time and look for user reviews and reviews written by bloggers. These will help you make an informed choice.

7 HideIPVPN alternatives – Top VPN services providers

I have selected seven excellent VPN alternatives that easily hide your IP address and may offer what you need: an extended number of servers, excellent support, simultaneous connections on multiple devices, and good connection speed.

Additional tips

HideIPVPN provides a smooth VPN service for a reasonable price. When switching to an alternative provider, it may happen that you are not happy with the one you picked.

My advice is to create a subscription for the shortest period available (one or 3 months). Thus, you will be able to thoroughly test the alternative service before committing to a more extended billing agreement.

Please share your experience with HideIPVPN and its alternatives in the comments below.

Google Play is rolling out and given the awesome features it has gathered into one place. Well, it’s actually Google Market store, but they’re kind of re-branding it into Google Play. It’s becoming more and more interesting to get some apps from that marketplace.

The issue is that for some applications, if you are based in China, they just don’t show up in the search results, or you just can’t download and install them. Therefore, you need to find a way to unlock Google Play.

Unlock Google Play with a VPN service

So there are multiple options that you can try out: but let’s see how a VPN solution can be used. For this example, let’s use HideMyAss (in fact, you could use another VPN solution like ibVPN or PureVPN, but it’s just that I need to refer to one solution).

HideMyAss can be interesting in such a way that they provide you a 30-day money-back guarantee. This gives you some kind of insurance that they are trustworthy enough.  From the HideMyAss package, you can get a UK or US or Netherlands-based IP address: this is what you want to get for installing and running applications like Skype or Spotify from your China-based Android device. Now, it’s your call to choose if you want to directly go for a one-year contract, or if you want to choose the three months contract.

Access Google Play from China

So from here, you can do one of the following:

• either directly configure the VPN from your Android device: this is the most obvious way of doing things. HideMyAss has a good setup howto document for configuring it on an Android device. Moreover, we’ve covered it on some how-to-hide-ip articles.
• or configure the VPN on one of your computer (that is running the VPN), have the applications installed from Google Play then have Google Play automatically install the same application on the Android device that you own (that you should have added to your Google Play account)

Please note that you only have to use this VPN workout for some specific applications that aren’t available in China. Anyway, since it’s easy installing a VPN on your Android device, and since it is cheap, why not use it for some other purposes like playing online games with your Google Plus friends, or listen to music that some of your Google Plus friends would have shared with you. Those are new horizons that you can open once you use a VPN solution with your China-based android device.

Conclusion

As you would see, being based in China doesn’t mean that you can’t access all the internet resources that are available to some other users. You just need to have the right tools and know-how to use them. One of the major tools that you should consider when unlocking Google Play is the use of a VPN solution. As I told earlier, I chose HideMyAss for this case, but you could also use another VPN solution (ibVPN has great solutions too).

P.S: I’ve been told that there’s another way around this issue if you are in China: all you have to do is put a US-based SIM (or UK-based, or whichever non-blocked country) into your Android Phone, then just connect through Wi-Fi (not 3G or anything else). I haven’t personally tested it, so if some of the readers could test it from China and tell us the result, that would be nice

With VPN servers located in Asia and Australia, you can surf the web in perfect privacy and access websites restricted to local users from countries like Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Pakistan, Philippines, Seychelles, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, etc. This is of great use for Aussi or Asian expats or for those traveling abroad. Learn about Asian/Australian IP VPN.

What is an Asian/Australian IP address?

Every device connected to the Internet uses an IP address to be identified in the large network that forms the Internet. Moreover, every ISP (Internet Service Provider) has assigned a range of IP addresses that it distributes to its subscribers. The assignment of an IP block is done geographically, thus, the location of every device connected to the Internet that uses a certain IP address is known with fair precision.

An Asian/Australian IP address is an IP that is assigned to an ISP or hosting provider that provides Internet services in countries from Asia or Australia.

For example, in Australia the most common IP addresses have the following format:

• 1.128.0.0 to 1.159.255.255
• 49.176.0.0 to 49.191.255.255
• 49.192.0.0 to 49.199.255.255
• 60.224.0.0 to 60.231.255.255
• 101.160.0.0 to 101.191.255.255

If you are interested in finding more info regarding the Australian IP blocks you should check this post.

Why would you need an Asian/Australian IP address from your VPN provider?

There are several reasons one could consider when searching for an Asian/Australian IP address. Let’s take them one by one.

Protecting online privacy while browsing

Using a VPN when accessing the Internet from public places is a must. VPN services are protecting you from hackers.

Why connect to a server in Asia or Australia? By encrypting the data you lose to the connection speed. And the distance to the server you are connecting to is also important. Thus, if you are located in Asia or Australia you should choose a server that is closed to your location and minimize the speed loss.

Accessing restricted streaming sites

That is probably an important reason for many users. There are a lot of streaming channels that are restricted to users located in Asia and Australia.

Asian/Australian IP VPN providers

Here is a list of several VPN services that offer access to servers located in Asia and Australia:

Do you know other good VPN services that offer Asian/Australian IP addresses? Let us know in the comments below.