We have moved a lot of ahead of satellite television days when one needed to have a wired cable connection or a dish antenna to get some entertainment.
The internet has opened up so many avenues for a user to get entertained. First came services such as YouTube which were solely dependent on user-generated content. Then came streaming services such as Netflix which allowed people to watch high-quality studio content of their choice.
Most channels are on the internet these days, and you can watch shows and movies of your choice, and at the time you want.
Amazon Fire Stick is a device which acts as a hub or most of these streaming services and lets you watch content on these services on a device which you can connect to Fire Stick and internet.
People prefer it because they get all their entertainment sources assorted at one place.
However, there are still some issues that people face whenever they use a service to stream content from the internet. Since all Fire Stick does is that it provides you access to all these services at one point, it ends up bringing all those issues related to streaming services as well.
Some of these relate to access to content while others may put your privacy at risk. VPN services have been a shield for users against most of the internet problems, and this case does not happen to be so different.
You can take care of most of these issues if you are connected to a virtual private network. A VPN will make the content a lot more entertaining since you won’t have to worry about these issues.
We will go through all the possible roadblock that you may come across while using Fire Stick. We will also explain how a VPN service can help you get rid of those issues.
Recommendations
Here is a list of top VPN services we would like to recommend for use with Amazon Fire Stick. These are in no particular order, and you can learn how to make such a choice yourself later in this article.
1. IPVanish
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IPVanish will allow you to make the most of streaming services you use on Fire Stick. It has got servers in more than 75 locations around the world which will assist you in overcoming most geo restrictions.
High-speed connectivity on this network will always let you watch quality content. Features such DNS leak protection and IPv6 leak protection give your connection that extra layer of security.
When it comes to usual security measures of protocol and encryption, they provide you military-grade encryption and multiple secure protocols. One can switch between protocols as per requirements and convenience.
The only thing that goes against IPVanish is that they are a US-based organization. Even though they claim to maintain a no logs policy, people may find it difficult to trust a service based in one of the 5-Eyes countries.
2. VyprVPN
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This Swiss VPN service is known for a lot of useful features but stands out mainly because of the use of its proprietary protocol Chameleon. They provide the usual protocols as well.
It provides robust encryption options along with these protocols which will keep any worries about data leakage while you browse your favorite content through Fire Stick.
It has a vast server network with servers in more than 60 nations. It will come in handy when you try to bypass geo-restrictions to watch your favorite content.
It supports a wide variety of platforms and devices as well. This will help you use VPN along with Fire Stick.
3. SurfShark
More Info: Read Review | Visit Website
SurfShark possesses all the qualities of a competent VPN service and more. They have servers in more than 50 countries, and these countries collectively hold more than 500 SurfShark servers.
Even though the server network may not sound very impressive when compared to top players, it gets the job done. SurfShark manages to get through regional restrictions most of the times.
Encryption and protocols on this service belong to the top tier of industry and a strict no logs policy will help you preserve privacy while browsing any content.
It contains a kill switch and allows unlimited simultaneous connections. Since you can use this VPN over a Wi-Fi router, there should be no problems when it comes to using Fire Stick along with this network.
4. ExpressVPN
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This VPN service has a huge server network. It covers 94 countries and has servers in around 150 locations. You will hardly ever feel the need for more servers while connected to this network.
Fire Stick is all about streaming content and geo restrictions are among the biggest roadblock for someone who binges quite regularly. ExpressVPN is known for getting through some of the most stringent regional firewall and network restrictions.
It supports a wide variety of platforms and devices. You can set it up for a Wi-Fi router as well. It is highly probable that it will work well with the equipment which you use for Fire Stick.
5. CyberGhost
More Info: Read Review | Visit Website
CyberGhost has got thousands of servers which are strategically placed in 60 countries. The countries are evenly spread throughout the globe and therefore, provide excellent connectivity for people all around the world.
CyberGhost generally offers good speeds and allows users to experience as much of their high-speed internet connection as possible. This factor becomes even more critical when it comes to streaming.
This VPN service is known for working well for activities such as streaming and torrenting. The dedicated servers help users to quickly identify the best servers for their need.
They follow a strict no logs policy. The robust encryption and safe protocols keep your data and privacy secure while you are connected to the internet.
Do you really need a VPN for Fire Stick?
Fire Stick holds various streaming services at one place for you. These streaming services include paid ones as well as the free ones. Then you can install apps like Kodi on it which bring along another array of services with them.
People may download browser applications to get access to YouTube or some other service which is not available on Fire Stick by default.
All these different types of applications can run into various problems or may land you into all sorts of trouble. Let us discuss some of these possible issues briefly.
Monitoring and surveillance
There are a lot of groups who would love to know what you do on the internet. It even includes those times when you are using it for entertainment.
Sometimes they want to use this data to get more information about the market, sometimes it is to serve you with ads, and sometimes it can even be for throttling of your internet connection.
Whatever the reason may be, it should be your choice if you want to let others know what you are doing on the internet. There is no logical explanation as to why third parties get to know of your online activities when it is a private matter, and you have paid for the service.
There are a lot of cases when internet service providers throttle a user’s connection when they discover that the person is taking up more bandwidth.
Once again it doesn’t make any sense as to why a user should not get the same internet speed to stream media.
There are countries in which the government monitors the internet to make sure their citizens don’t watch any content which can incite them against the authorities. People even end up getting fined and punished for watching a movie in such countries.
Fire Stick allows users to get applications such as Kodi which in turn can include a lot of add-ons. These add-ons may serve the user with copyrighted content without his knowledge.
It can then lead to one getting copyright notices from media houses or ISPs. If only there were a way to prevent these people from knowing what you do online, none of these issues would have existed.
Well, VPNs can hide your content from the sight of these people and save you from all sorts of repercussions. We will see how a VPN can keep you safe from monitoring on the internet.
Geo restrictions
How often has it happened that your subscribed streaming service offers some content in one part of the world but not to you?
This is a very common issue for people who subscribe to streaming services to watch their favorite content and then find out that content not available in that region.
People who go out on vacations suffer most as they can’t watch their favorite show on foreign land. There are two solutions to this problem. The first is to subscribe to one more service just for the sake of one show or movie.
The next solution is to subscribe to a VPN service and never worry about such restrictions ever again. You can’t go on subscribing to services for every time you come across a regional restriction but getting a VPN service sounds more like a permanent solution.
Risk to privacy
We will again take the example of Kodi. It allows users to get all sorts of add-ons. Some of these add-ons may not be as safe as the other ones and using them may put your privacy in danger.
It is not just add-ons on Kodi which can be a threat to your privacy and data, but Fire Stick allows you to install a lot many applications which can risk your private information in one way or another.
A virtual private network may not always be able to save you from such harmful explanations, but it can reduce the risk significantly. It can make it tough for others to track your exact location and identity.
How VPN enhances Fire Stick experience
The risks we just discussed in the previous sections may not be all that can go wrong while you use a Fire Stick. However, a virtual private network is highly likely to keep you safe from other threats as well.
It encrypts your online traffic so that no one can make out the contents of it. This encrypted traffic is then routed through their servers under the secure protocol.
These protocols don’t allow third parties to intercept your online data. Even if they somehow manage to bypass the protocol, they will not be able to know what is wrapped under encryption cover.
Most VPN services use strong enough encryptions which are almost impossible to decrypt without the actual key. But these protocols are not so easy to bypass in the first place, and you can rest assured none of your information will get into the hands of someone you don’t want.
The encryption will take care of ISPs and others who will be trying to figure out what is it that you are doing on the internet. Since they will not be able to make out the content of your traffic, they will not have any ground to throttle your internet connection as well.
A VPN service generally has servers around the world. Your encrypted traffic reaches these servers, and then it is decrypted and sent to destination sites. This makes those sites think that your location and server location are the same ones.
VPN services take advantage of this and bypass geo-restrictions. They will redirect your traffic through a server which is located in a country where the content is not restricted.
Some streaming services such as Netflix have installed measures against VPN services to stop them from doing this. But there are some VPNs which stay ahead of them and keep bypassing these restrictions.
These remote server locations also help to keep you anonymous on the internet. If someone tries to trace your location, they will hit a dead end at the VPN server and will never be able to make out your actual identity or location.
The quality of service you get keeps varying across different VPN services. It is, therefore, vital that you choose a VPN service carefully
Choosing the best VPN for Fire Stick
Let us now tell you how we came up with the list of best VPN services for Fire Stick. It is possible that you may find some more service providers who can work well with a Fire Stick.
The server network
You will use Fire Stick to browse and stream content from various services. It means that the two most annoying issues for you can be blocked content and latency issues.
A VPN service with a large and dense enough server network can take care of these two problems without much difficulty.
If they have a lot of servers which are present all around the globe, then it will translate into that many options for you to mask your location. If the streaming service blocks one IP address of the VPN, you will always have more options at your disposal.
Servers in a lot of places will allow one to be mobile as well. You can go on vacations in different countries, and you will have some VPN server in your proximity. A close server will take care of any possible latency issues.
Distance between the user and the server affect the quality of a connection. The same principle applies to people in countries which generally do not enjoy a good VPN server coverage. One can take the example of places other than North America and Europe.
If we talk about the density of servers in a network, then it has got a lot to do with the quality of connection you will get. A higher number of servers mean more available bandwidth.
There will be fewer chances of a server location running into traffic bottleneck issues. Even if there will be a lot of people in your location connected to the same network, you will experience the same speed and same rate.
Make sure you choose a VPN service which has got a lot of servers all over the globe, servers in your vicinity, and higher bandwidth availability in general.
Security mechanisms
Since you can install players such as Kodi on Fire Stick, security and privacy also become an issue. One needs to find a VPN service which is well equipped to deal with such matters.
Most VPN services perform well when it comes to keeping users anonymous on the internet. They encrypt your online activity before transmitting it to their servers. The transmission takes place inside secure protocols.
If the VPN service has AES 128-bit encryption or higher, then you can move on to other things. Next comes protocols. OpenVPN is considered the best protocol in terms of both speed and security.
You should make sure that there is at least OpenVPN protocol available on the service. If it includes other protocols, then it’s even better.
Some services will come with their proprietary protocols. Sometimes, it will be optional and the only option. You should do enough research before subscribing to either kind.
Protocols and encryption hide information about your online activity from third parties. However, the VPN service will always know about it.
Generally, VPN services turn a blind eye on your online activities and delete all information about it so that no one can have that information. But, not all of them strictly adhere to their no-logs policy.
You should always go through the privacy statement in details to know what is it that they are doing to keep your information safe from others. Ideally, you will want to find a service which never stores any information about the user’s online activity.
Other risks to privacy are government rules and policies. You should examine the jurisdiction of the service and see if the government can try to sabotage them and gain access to their logs. It is generally advised to stay away for VPN services which are based out of one of the 14-Eyes countries.
Router support
You can in fact put this feature at the top of your checklist. Majority of VPN services now come with Wi-Fi router compatibility. But there are still a few who don’t provide this essential feature.
Fire Stick connects over Wi-Fi network, and it will be a lot easier for you if your Wi-Fi router is already set up for a virtual private network.
If the VPN service does not offer router support, then there are a few workarounds to establish one form desktop or a mobile device. However, that will only add up to the number of steps as well as inconvenience.
Speed
Streaming services offer high-quality content for users. Fire Stick has got a 4k variant as well. It is supposed to enrich user experience while viewing content.
But viewing such high-quality content will be impossible without a high-speed internet connection. The VPN service you choose to use along with your Fire Stick should also facilitate high speeds.
We all know that a VPN slows down the internet speed to some degree because of all the encryption and redirecting process. But the speed reduction varies from one service to another.
You will have to find a service which won’t take away a lot from your high-speed internet connection. It is critical if you want to enjoy your 4k variant of Fire Stick.
You need to make sure it exhibits enough speed for both your local region as well as for those locations which will help you get through regional censorships and restrictions.
Performance of VPN services varies from one location to another because of different servers. Instead of trying to know about its performance across all the locations, you should try to learn about speeds on only those servers which you may be using.