With the price of cable TV subscriptions often being over $100 per month, many people are switching to streaming services that are often free or just a fraction of the price.
But not all streaming services are equal and if you are new to the landscape you could easily find yourself on a shady website that’s offering you a ton of free content.
So is it safe to stream away to your heart’s content or should you protect your privacy first by connecting to a VPN first?
Should I Use A VPN When Streaming?
If you are using a digital player like Kodi or peer to peer-based streaming services like Popcorn Time or if want to access geo-restricted content, such as a different Netflix library, the BBC iPlayer from outside of the UK, or streaming providers like Tubi TV, Pluto TV, and Crackle from outside of the United States, then you should use a VPN while streaming.
Using a site like Popcorn Time to watch pirated movies or a Kodi box to stream subscription-based content for free is illegal and could land you in trouble.
By connecting to a VPN first, it can allow you to stream such content anonymously.
A VPN will send your data through an encrypted tunnel so that your ISP or anyone else will not be able to see what you are watching or the sites that you are connecting to (they will only be able to see that you are connecting to a VPN service).
This can also stop your VPN from slowing your connection when they see you connecting to certain sites.
Apart from encrypting your traffic, the other thing VPNs are good at is changing your IP address to make it look as though you are accessing the internet from a different country.
And this is especially useful if you want to access streaming services that are geographically locked to a country you do not reside in.
For example, I live outside of the United States and I use Chromecast with Google TV.
However, many of the best free streaming services like Pluto TV, Tubi TV, and Crackle are not accessible if their systems detect that your IP address is originating from outside of the US.
With the flip of a switch, you can use a VPN to assign yourself an American IP address and access thousands of extra TV shows, movies, live channels, sporting events, news channels, concerts, etc, through these streaming apps.
Similarly, you can change your IP address to access the different content libraries that Netflix offers to its users in different countries.
Give the Irish one a go, it’s one of the biggest.
But if you are paying for subscriptions from providers like Netflix, Disney+, etc. and you are quite happy with their content offering and don’t feel the need to expand on that, then you don’t need to use a VPN when you are streaming.
Are There Any Disadvantages To Using A VPN While Streaming?
There’re a few disadvantages when it comes to using a VPN for streaming.
The first and probably the biggest one is cost.
Unless you’re paying for a year or two in advance, you’ll probably end up paying at least $5 per month for a VPN service.
Netflix’s basic plan is around $10 so if you are subscribing to a VPN for the purpose of streaming it is increasing your costs by 50%.
Maybe you would be better off spending that extra money on the standard Netflix plan so that you can watch shows and movies in HD.
Related Article: Can A VPN Block Ads? (Answered)
VPNs can also slow down your internet speed.
And the impact on your connection will vary depending on the geographical location of the server you are connecting to, the protocols you choose in the settings, and how crowded the server is that you are connecting to.
Usually, the closer the server is to you the faster the speed you’ll get, the less secure protocols you use the faster your connection will be, and the less crowded the server the faster.
Another issue with VPNs and streaming is that streaming services such as Netflix and HBO Max don’t like them because of the licensing and distribution issues they cause.
Depending on what the movies and TV shows are, they may be more valuable in some countries than they are in others and this causes licensing agreements to vary by region.
VPNs complicate things when a user in one region can access content in any other.
In the future, we will probably see VPNs blocked on most streaming services.
In conclusion, a VPN is most useful if you live outside of the United States and want to get access to some free streaming apps that offer tons of movies, TV shows, live TV channels, sporting events, and other content.
Then, the relatively small cost of a VPN subscription can get you a lot of extra content to watch.
However, this can be at the cost of a slower connection.
If you plan on using a VPN to stream or download illegal content, I’d advise against it because the software you’ll be downloading and coming into contact with that’s associated with these sites will often be littered with malware.
