There are no laws or regulations in place that would prevent websites or other online services from preferring one IP address range over others. Whether it’s speed or the amount of content shown, it’s a significant online discrimination. Unfortunately, such a situation is unlikely to improve online any time soon.
That is why we must take matters into our own hands and look for tools to level the playing field online. One of the most frequent ways to do it is to use an IP address from the United Kingdom. This article will explain what it means and the strategic advantages UK IP brings.
IP addresses
Let’s start from the basics. An IP address is a unique combination of characters (numbers or letters) that identifies every device on the internet. When the internet was first created, the reason for IP addresses was purely technical. Devices must be able to identify networks and other devices to ensure data transfers.
While information does not travel physically online, the location of devices is still important. Servers need to know what networks to use for sending the data. Whether it’s a website, a movie, or something else, the same process applies. That’s why IP addresses are categorized into areas serviced by internet service providers (ISPs).
Providers are responsible for maintaining network equipment, so anyone who knows your IP address can tell the name of your ISP. The same ISP has assigned a specific set of IP address ranges to certain locations, which makes it possible to identify your location on a city or even neighborhood level just from the numbers in your IP.
Since IP addresses are so ingrained into the functioning of the internet, it takes milliseconds for web servers to identify and differentiate between different visitors. An often application is when websites adapt their language accordion to the IP address location of the visitor.
The practice seems harmless at first sight, but it can also be used to filter more sensitive information. E-commerce shops tend to raise prices or limit the choice of goods for visitors from countries they don’t prefer working with.
Governments are frequently tracking IP addresses to limit access to services available to residents inside the country. In some extreme cases, authoritarian countries limit access to the internet altogether by asking ISPs to restrict connections with IPs outside the country.
Three ways to change your IP address
All these restrictions can be bypassed by strategically changing your IP address to one unrelated to your actual location. Below are the three most common ways to change your IP address.
Allows you to access the Tor network, which functions by creating multiple encrypted layers (called nodes) that hide your connection before reaching the final server. Such a process also changes your IP address.
Tor is a great way to ensure maximum anonymity, but it is quite slow, and you won’t be able to choose the exact location where you want your IP address to appear. The Tor browser is best for political activists who want to bypass government censorship.
VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are perhaps the most popular method of changing your IP address. It creates an encrypted tunnel that routes your requests to a VPN server that changes your IP. VPNs are relatively fast but may require software to run on your device for encryption.
Good VPN services also enable you to choose from multiple locations. However, it’s hard to integrate VPNs with automation or privacy software, and their IPs are relatively easy to detect. That’s why I prefer the third option – proxy servers.
Proxies are intermediary devices that can connect to web services on your behalf. You first connect to a proxy, and it then surfs the web. Your IP address is invisible, and you can choose from proxies all over the world.
Proxies do not require any specific software to run, so they are the most flexible method. So you can use them for anything from anonymous browsing to social media automation and web scraping.
IP by location: United Kingdom
No matter what method of changing your IP address you choose, IP address location is crucial for security and efficiency. Your IP location must have a lot of legitimate traffic, great internet infrastructure, and a lot of local content as a bonus.
In all these aspects, there is no better choice than a UK proxy server. The internet is predominantly English-speaking. So, hiding behind a UK IP address will raise the least suspicions. Countries like India or Nigeria might have cheaper IP addresses and more traffic, but they are more restricted.
From website administrators’ point of view, UK visitors are the least likely to run bots or scrape data. They are also the most likely to spend money on the internet, so it’s risky for websites to block these IPs. You will be able to protect your anonymity or automate tasks without much hassle.
At the same time, UK proxies will give you an advantage in speed. No matter how you look at it, the British Isles have one of the best internet infrastructures globally. UK server downtime is almost nonexistent as it must provide a constant connection for a large pool of local customers.
The pace of improvement is also unlikely to stop anytime soon. Some estimates report that the home internet speed in the UK has tripled over the past ten years and now reaches 30Mps. It is unsurprising as this highly developed society relies on the internet more and more.
It is evident from the amount of location-specific content the UK audiences have. From government services to BBC and UK-specific content on Netflix, UK IPs have great access and only a few restrictions.
Conclusion
Any other IP location might cause suspicions if you want to access English content, but a UK IP address has it as the main strategic advantage. UK IPs will allow you to access everything in the country and (almost) anything abroad.
