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VPN Providers and Their Small Lies About Server Locations

VPN Providers and Their Small Lies About Server Locations


VPN Server Locations

Nowadays, upfront marketing and attractive promises are the ones selling the product, and this isn’t different in the world of VPN either. High-speed data transfer, unlimited bandwidth, free plans and a server network covering every inch of the world: these are the typical benefits companies dangle before your nose to persuade you for a premium subscription. Then comes then comes the fine print, stating that the constant high-speed data stream cannot be always guaranteed, the bandwidth comes with restrictions, and sometimes it turns out even the amount of servers is exaggerated too.

Too good to be true

“Global VPN locations” or “Proxy servers across the globe” are just some of those sonorous lines you come across when inspecting a VPN provider’s website. There is no denial that the international presence on the five main continents is considered to be the biggest hook, as people want to route their internet connection through various locations. No matter what your purpose is, more servers means more options for you. That’s why the large number of server locations is so alluring. But did you know that many sites provide fake information in hopes you won’t notice it?

Ghost servers and white lies

Just because a site claims that they have servers in South Africa, it doesn’t necessarily means said proxy is actually located there. According to SlickVPN, a major player on the field, some providers label servers in the USA as they were in somewhere else. They’re only updating the IP ownership information to make it appear that they IP address is location in another country. This often leads to slow connection speed, failure in the geolocation and undesirable legal jurisdiction. But why do providers resort to such cheap tactic?

Well, smaller VPN companies that are struggling to stay afloat lie to you like this, so they can stay relevant even though they can’t afford the expenses of an international network. Sometimes they need to shut down servers, but they “forget” mentioning this, and keep the IPs on their site, saving face before their users. Sporting a large amount of fake servers on faraway continents is also a nice way to charge people more for their use.

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What should I do?

In case you are afraid of being fooled by malicious VPN providers, you have two options in your hand. You can either perform traceroutes/pings to tell where the actual gateway is located, or choose more trustworthy VPN providers. The former requires in-depth tech-savviness, but you can also conduct a brief search on the internet, checking some reviews and forums discussing the service. Or you can opt for one of the popular providers like IPVanish, HideMyAss or ExpressVPN that don’t resort to such tricks, and they are transparent when it comes to their network.


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