You may find some services or content on Internet only available in certain countries. For example, Hulu, Google Music, Netflix contents are restricted to the users from United States, and visitors from outside US can’t have access to these sites. In case of some political instability, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter or even YouTube may also face action from government and you may not be able to access these sites in your county. In these situations, you can still access the blocked sites by using VPN connection.
If you are using Apple iPhone or iPad, you can read this tutorial to access geo-restricted sites using these devices.
Android users are also having the feature in the device to connect the phone or tablet through VPN. You can either choose free VPN services or premium VPN services with fast and unlimited bandwidth. Here is the setup that you need to do to get access to these censored sites.
Step by Step Setup for VPN on Android
Step 1 – Go to Settings ==> Wireless & networks ==> VPN Settings
Step 2 – Click on “Add VPN” and then you will see few options as below
- Add PPTP VPN
- Add L2TP VPN
- Add L2TP/IPSec PSK VPN
- Add L2TP/IPSec CRT VPN
Step 3 – Depending on your requirement, you may choose between the above options. In case of L2TP connections, you may need to enter a security code provided by the VPN service provider.
Step 4 – I selected PPTP VPN connection. Now you need to enter a name for VPN (any name as per your convenience) and VPN Server name (provided by VPN service provider). Keep the ‘Enable encryption’ turned ON and no need to enter the DNS search domains.
Note – In certain cases, you need to disable the ‘encryption’ to get the VPN connected properly.
Step 5 – Now can come to the “Add VPN” screen and can see the VPN just you added in the list. Once you click on the added VPN, it will ask for ID and password. Enter the VPN account ID and password (provided by VPN service provider).
That’s it. Your Android device is now connected to the Internet through VPN. You may check the restricted sites and see if you can browse the site or restricted app now. Once the device is connected through VPN connection, you can see a ‘Key’ like icon on status bar of the device. You can see that icon in the first screenshot attached below.
Screenshots (Click on thumbnails to see the larger picture)
I hope this small tutorial helped you in setting up VPN connection for safe and secured browsing on your Android device.