So you’re moving to The Middle East and you’re wondering if you need a VPN? Well, if you want to call friends and family back home for free or watch television programs from your home country, then yes, you will want to get a VPN. But there are many other reasons to get a VPN. In this article we’ll share with you which VPN provider we use and also give you 9 reasons why you need a VPN.
The VPN provider we use is Express VPN. Express VPN is widely regarded as the best VPN around the world. They have servers in 94 countries with 160 servers. We have found it to work very well and have always been able to establish a connection with no hassles.
Another reason we recommend Express VPN is that we can use up to 5 devices at once. We’ve never actually had a situation where we’ve needed to use 5 devices, but in theory we could be on both of our phones or laptops while the boys are on their tablets. We’d still have a spare device we could use with a VPN.
So if you want a reliable VPN, click here to see the latest offers from Express VPN.
Enough about Express VPN. Let’s explain the 9 reasons to get a VPN.
You are probably well aware that you can use voip services to make free calls over the internet. Unfortunately without a VPN you will not be able to make calls from some countries in the Middle East. We can’t from Qatar. We’ve tried Skype, Facebook Messenger, FaceTime, WhatsApp and none of them work from here. The only way to make these calls was to connect to a VPN. Once connected, we were able to connect and make calls. I will say we’ve had some connection issues with some of the apps. But the main ones we use are Skype and WhatsApp which work perfectly!
Did you know that while you’re shopping around to find the best deals on airfares, hotel rooms, or car rentals, those websites are actually tracking your activity. Often the next time you return to their website, the price on that flight or hotel room may have gone up. The best way around this is to use a VPN to keep your connection private and you can do your comparisons without the fear of being tracked.
Most TV networks these days have apps where you can watch live TV or shows that were recently broadcast. The problem is that if you try to access these from another country you’ll get a notification that it’s not available from your location. The great news is that there is a way around this. Connect to your VPN using a server in the country where you want to watch the programs. Once you do this you’ll automatically gain access.
Our kids love to watch some of the shows on ABC kids so they often watch these through the VPN on their tablets. I also watched the State of Origin live when it was shown in Australia a few months ago which was pretty cool!
Whenever you are connected to your VPN your connection is completely private. Did you know your internet provider can see and record everything you do online? However, if you are connected to a VPN your data is encrypted making it completely private. Even from hackers and government agencies.
We all have concerns of our information being stolen. Particularly things like our banking or email passwords. Using a VPN will encrypt your data making it completely safe to access these sites from home and even if you’re using a public wifi network.
For some reason Netflix doesn’t show viewers in one country the same programs as another. I discovered that Japan actually has the most programs with about 6000 titles. The US comes in 2nd with about 5600. Towards the bottom of the list I found a lot of countries from the Middle East have the least. Qatar is right at the bottom with only about 2600 titles. But there is a way around this and that is to connect to your VPN on a server in another country. Once you do this you’ll gain access to the same titles as people living in that country. Awesome hey!
Some countries block access to sites that you’re probably used to using everyday such as Facebook, YouTube or Twitter. A VPN will essentially bypass the firewalls and give you access to all these sites. By the way, the website for Express VPN is actually blocked here in Qatar. So you won’t be able to access it once you get here unless you have a VPN. So this means if you are moving here, you will definitely need to have a VPN provider all sorted before your arrival.
Click here to sign up to Express VPN today.
When you’re out in public a lot of places these days offer free wifi. You’ve no doubt come across free public wifi hotspots in airports and shopping malls. Unfortunately, with so many strangers around you, it also makes these places a perfect place for identity theft. If you absolutely must get online using one of these free wifi connections then you really should use a VPN.
Did you know that some sites will charge you more just because of the location you are shopping from. I recently noticed this when shopping for a new camera. I found vastly different prices when shopping from different countries. If you think you are subject to location discrimination, you can use a VPN to check to see if that is the case.
Do you want to see how we save loads of money shopping online from anywhere in the world by shipping packages to us here in Qatar? Then please sign up to our mailing list. We’ll be sharing an article on how we save money shopping online very soon!
By the way, this is not a paid endorsement for Express VPN. We do think they provide a fantastic service! But to be fully transparent here, we will mention that links to Express VPN in this article are affiliate links. This means we get a small commission at absolutely no cost to you if you sign up to Express VPN using our links. You don’t have to use our link. You can simply do a google search for Express VPN to find their website. Obviously, we really appreciate it you use our links as it does help us with the costs to maintain our website.
Thanks for visiting our website! Why not check out this article about our first impressions of Qatar while you’re here. Our family has been living in Qatar for almost two years now and we have shared a few videos about our life here if you want to check those out too.
David
The World n Us
3 Responses
Thanks for the great info! I’m going to sign up to Express VPN.
This was so helpful!
helpful!