Different countries often have different pricing for their streaming services. This happens because of the income disparity between different regions in the world. While users in the US might be paying $20 for a month of Netflix, someone in India will not even be paying $10. Keep in mind though, that the average person in India will be earning significantly less money than someone living in the US.

Regardless, there is a way for you to save some money as well.

How to save money on streaming?

People have been doing this for as long as regional prices have existed. Whether you are buying video games via Steam or a subscription service like Netflix. It is possible to save money on streaming by using a VPN service. There honestly is no reason you should be paying more than someone else for the same content. You can also get access to different Netflix libraries by switching regions.

How do companies figure out where you are?

Companies use your IP address to find out where you live. Then these same companies cater their libraries according to your location. But in recent times, it seems like companies also cater their pricing according to your location. Another way company figures out where you are is by using the location services on your devices. There is no reason a service like Netflix should be able to know where you are, and thankfully they have not yet stooped to that level. But if you ever see a streaming service requesting permissions to see your location? Think twice.

How to hide your IP address from streaming services?

By connecting to Turbo VPN, you can change your IP address. Simply create a new account after connecting to Turbo VPN. This way, the streaming service will not be able to associate you with your older account. Go through the registration process as usual and you will have your savings in no time.

It is important that you use special servers built specifically for streaming services. Streaming services have started detecting VPN servers and if the VPN service that you are using is not up to par, they will detect it. You run the risk of getting yourself banned from the platform altogether. Thankfully, Turbo VPN comes with special servers that Netflix and the other streaming services are unable to detect.

Keep in mind though, that for some subscription services like Spotify, you will have to use a credit card from the country that you are trying to portray yourself as being from. If you know anyone who is living in these countries, then this is not that difficult to accomplish either.

Price discrimination: what is it?

The biggest problem with this difference in pricing is that it counts as discrimination, does it not? Let us suppose that you are only interested in Netflix originals. Netflix does not really have to pay licensing fees for those because they own that content. So technically speaking, they should be able to charge the same amount regardless of where you are in the world. This is not the case though. Someone in the US will be paying three times as much as someone living in another country. For the same content.

In all honesty, this should not be how it is. If all you are ever interested in is Netflix Originals, then you should be paying the same amount. Not a penny more than anyone else for the same content.

Why does price discrimination exist?

The average person living in a less developed country does not earn enough money to pay the US subscription fee for Netflix. This leaves the streaming service with very few options.

They can either refuse to lower their prices and not get a lot of new customers.

Or they can lower their prices and potentially get thousands if not hundreds of thousands more.

The first option is not very lucrative. Companies did try to do that, but in the end, they did not end up making enough money to justify their decisions. Streaming services and online stores from across the world started going with the second option. Instead of keeping their rates high, they simply implemented regional pricing.

Is price discrimination good or bad?

The average person only sees a single thing when they look at the price difference between Turkey and the United States. Profit margins. If Netflix can show their original content to Turkey for a fraction of their US subscription fee, imagine the margins.

There is no doubt that these price differences are something that people in less developed countries welcome. They would not be able to afford the regular price anyway. But at the same time, this difference in pricing is unfair to subscribers living in the United States or the United Kingdom. Is it not?

Price discrimination happens in other businesses as well

One of the most common places you will see price discrimination is airline tickets. People in certain areas might be paying a lot less than people from other areas. Oftentimes, it is significantly cheaper to take a detour from your route. Especially if you live in a location that is well-off.

Until everyone comes together to take a stand against it, we only have ways to circumvent this discrimination.

How to defeat price discrimination?

Let us focus on defeating price discrimination on the Internet. Because if we started tackling airlines and other businesses, there would be no end to this discussion.

You can find out how much a single service costs anywhere else on the planet by simply adding “regional pricing” to the search. Companies will reduce their prices as they try to get more customers from across the world. There is no way someone in South Asia is going to pay the full subscription fee for a Microsoft 365 membership.

We have already discussed the reasoning. The full subscription fee for Microsoft’s 365 subscription is more than a teacher’s single-month salary in some of these countries. Why would anyone pay that?

Use Turbo VPN to defeat price discrimination

Not all companies identify your location with your credit card information. This is because you can physically be in another country while still holding a card from your home country. There is no reason you should be paying more than anyone else back home.

But simply holding another card is not going to save you. You are going to need a way to change your IP address. This is where Turbo VPN comes in.

Hide your real IP address

Turbo VPN allows you to hide your IP address from everyone else on the internet, making it impossible to trace you. In addition to simply hiding your IP address, you should also create a new account when doing this. This way, the streaming service you are using will not have any history about where you have been or where you were.

Unlocking regional content with Turbo VPN

Apart from just price discrimination, these companies also use your local IP address to cater content to you. Meaning that depending on where you are living, they might not show you all the content that they have. Sure, you can watch Netflix originals from everywhere on the planet. But if you want to binge On How I Met Your Mother again, you are out of luck.

Thankfully, Turbo VPN helps us solve this problem as well. By using a server in the United States, you can access their entire Netflix library without ever stepping foot into the country.

Other benefits of using Turbo VPN

Turbo VPN's benefits do not end with just unlocking regional content or defeating price discrimination. There are incredible cybersecurity concerns that everyone should be aware of. Especially when using public Wi-Fi connections. If you recommend that you never use a public Wi-Fi connection without connecting to a VPN. This is because public Wi-Fi connections are the least secure method of accessing the Internet. Turbo VPN on the other hand keeps you secure by:

Encrypting all packets sent to or from your computer. Anyone monitoring your service will see nothing more than gibberish. They will be unable to decipher it at all.

Using a private DNS server for all DNS queries. This ensures that all information about the websites that you open is completely private and secure. Your Internet service provider will not even know the names of the websites you open.

Having a strict no-logging policy. Meaning that Turbo VPN does not save any information about the queries or the websites that you open. If there are no logs, then how will anyone ever find out where you have been?

Virtual private networks are a lot more useful than just unblocking content or circumventing pricing discriminations. Cyber security is incredibly important nowadays. Your digital life, your smartphone, it has most of your precious belongings. Sure, we all have backups on the cloud, but is that all that is important to us?

Keep your family more secure by using Turbo VPN. With a single subscription, you can secure the devices of your entire family. Turbo VPN’s premium servers will make you forget that you connected to a VPN in the first place.

How to save money on online streaming with VPN