On Wednesday, the Canadian government has imposed mandatory self-isolation for those who are returning to Canada under the Quarantine Act. There is a lockdown all over the country to prevent the further spread of Coronavirus. The shutdown has confined people of all age groups in their homes. As a consequence, more people are going to use streaming sites to kill their time amid COVID-19.

There are several streaming services and websites that are using the pandemic coronavirus as a chance to display their products to a massive population in the marketplace for cheap rates with the availability of home-entertainment options.

The global craving for online video content has not been much more robust than it is right now at the moment. People in millions all over the world are locked in their homes. Because of this, they are watching online streaming sites as much as possible. Bloomberg reported that the global streaming activity jumped to 20% during the third week of March.  Moreover, the streaming hours on various gaming platforms also increased by 15% during the last days.

How Canada is Tackling Overload Issues?

Like in other countries, in Canada, the streaming companies are reacting to this situation in different ways. The media organizations want to be a real hero at this time. They want to serve the citizens by providing them good and trustworthy news regarding the virus and also want to offer ways to reduce boredom by not capitalizing on the disaster.

The financial difficulties have put people in some severe crises. In this time of crisis, the services have yet to reduce the fees for the current or new subscribers. The current monthly tab range from the ordinary Apple TV Plus whose shows are costing $5 and Disney Plus for $7 for a deep bench of some old and new fare to Netflix’s top plan that costs $16 as compared to $9 for the necessary access.

Netflix has also come in the line of lowering the video quality of its users in Canada as it attempts to reduce the increasing demands over the internet bandwidth.  The streaming service reveals that it is going to introduce some changes that are designed to reduce the data traffic by 25% as the ISPs deal with user activity surge during this alarming situation.

The need for such a move comes when the telecom companies observe a rise in data usage while the Canadians go in self-isolation and use the streaming services more than regular. Netflix has already introduced the bandwidth measures in other parts of the world too. Such reductions in video quality have also been made in Australia, India, Latin America, Europe, and New Zealand. The company has also claimed that it plans to maintain lower bandwidth measures within Canada for the next 30 days.

In this situation, what will the people of Canada do to stream their favorite sites without any hindrance? We all know that Canada has already imposed some internet restriction on its users previously, and this pandemic disease has further worsened the situation. Back in 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada, following the government agreed on worldwide internet censorship. Furthermore, users who want to participate in peer-2-peer file sharing also find themselves securitized because the anti-privacy enforcement companies brought their attention to the country.

Bypassing the internet censorship, streaming services like Netflix and Hulu without coming in the notice can only be possible by using one of the best VPNs for Canada. Yes! You heard it right. By using a VPN, you can do whatever you want amid this lockdown too. In the next part of the article, we’ll discuss what things you should look for to use a VPN in a Canadian jurisdiction.

What to Look for in Canadian VPN Services

Well! There are several important factors to look for in a virtual private network (VPN). If you are a Canadian resident, then you should be extra cautious while picking up a VPN. The following are some essential things to look for a VPN. Let’s discuss them one by one.

1.  Anonymity and Privacy

The Canadian user history is full of horror stories for neglecting privacy. Therefore, it is the foremost thing to focus more on the anonymity and privacy aspects of a VPN in Canada. As both the private industry and government spy over the users, choose a VPN that ensures your activities and data are kept in robust privacy.

The best way to assure this is to keep an eye on VPNs with no-log policy and is based out of countries that are present in their data retention laws. It also excludes states within the fourteen eyes and five eyes jurisdiction.

2.  Speed and Reliability

In Canada, if you have an average household speed of 100Mbps, then there should not be issues with the VPN speeds as almost all the top VPN service providers should be capable enough to manage this benchmark.

Always pick a VPN that offers super-fast speed and is reliable to use. By reliability here, it means to go with premium VPNs instead of free VPNs because, in reality, free VPNs don’t protect your privacy but expose it to third-parties.

3.  Security

The security infrastructure on the VPNs is the same for Canadians as everywhere else. Do go with AES-256 bit encryption because with this encryption protocol, you’ll be on the safe side, and nobody would be able to spy on your activities.

4.  Geographical Location Spoofing

Regardless of being a USA neighbor, Canadians are unable to access the US-restricted Netflix content. It is one of the prime reasons why users all around the world use VPNs for bypassing geographical restrictions. Look for the VPNs that support Netflix connections because they often block most of them.

5.  Large Network Size

To ensure that you’ve access to the best servers available every time you get connected, you must have a VPN that has a strong and extensive network. Moreover, if you have a particular country from which you would like to view the content, it is good to have a VPN server located within that country.

6.  Logging Policies

It is always recommended to use a VPN that doesn’t keep logs. In other words, it means that you opt for a VPN that does not hold any track records of your online activity. It is because if your ISP tracks you so, they have any proof of what you are doing online. Research shows that lack of transparency is the main reason businesses lose reputation with their customers, so ensure that your VPN service is 100% clear with their logging policy.

Are VPN Legal in Canada?

The short and direct answer to this question is a resounding YES, VPN usage is legal in Canada. There are several organizations, such as law firms, government agencies, and other industries that use VPNs to protect users’ sensitive data. In some countries, including Canada, there are specific government laws that force VPNs to provide their users’ data upon request.

Here using a VPN goes against the user terms of service of many streaming sites like Hulu and Netflix. All these services might cancel your subscription if they found you using a VPN. But, this doesn’t happen much frequently. What these services do is simply use a VPN blocker that, at times, avert you from streaming video until you disconnect your VPN.

Final Thoughts

Towards the end of the article, we can only hope that this guide will help you in this tough time, and you won’t be much frustrated by the implications imposed by Netflix. Also, enjoy this time by using a VPN.