It's no secret that there are Indians living in just about every country in the world. And while some are overseas for work or business, some have become citizens of other countries, naturalizing into The USA, Canada, or many other places. With family and business ties overseas in India, there's certainly more than a few internet users that would like to have an Indian IP address on their phone or computer. This is possible.

Proxies

I'm not a fan of proxies, but many people are familiar with them and how they work. There's certainly no shortage of Indian proxies out there, but there are two main issues. One is security. If you're using a proxy service that you're not familiar with, or especially an Open Proxy, which you most likely have no idea about the origins of, you're putting your personal data (or perhaps your company's data) at risk. With regards to open proxies, by signing into a proxy server you're essentially allowing that admin access to all your traffic data. Do you know him or her? Even if you use a professional service, there are many security loopholes associated with proxies - even those using SSL encryption.

And the other problem with using an Indian proxy for an Indian IP address is that they only change the IP of your web based activity. This is ok for some Indian TV streaming sites or geo-restricted websites that require you to have a local IP. But for Skype? It won't work. For games? It won't work. For website analyzation tools? Nope. Any kind of app or software that's not web based won't use the Indian proxy to connect. They'll use your local IP address.

VPNs

As you might have guessed, if I'm going to use an Indian IP address on my phone or computer I'm going to connect to a VPN. You have the option to upgrade to 256-bit encryption (from a standard 128-bit SSL), which improves your security. Your data is tunneled (on top of encryption, increasing privacy. The VPN will tunnel and encrypt all data from all apps and software, greatly expanding the possible uses of your Indian IP.

There are also several other cool things about VPN services. Rather than choosing just one location, or the needing to wasted time searching for IP numbers and port numbers, you can use a simple interface to switch between VPN servers around the world seamlessly. One moment I could use a VPN IP from India and connect to an online game with my Indian friends, and the next moment I could be surfing with a secure US IP address and stream Hulu or Netflix on my computer. I could be in Canada and use a private Canadian IP, then switch to an English IP and stream the BBC on my phone. If you find the right VPN service with the right VPN package, you could get all of these options rolled into one deal.

The most common pricing options for VPN services is to offer one price for a month of service, and give discounts for signing up for longer. Some places give you 40% off or more for ordering a year of service. Prices range from about $3 to $15. Remember though, not all VPN services offer options in India. The most common server locations are The US and The UK, with European countries ranking second. Even Southeast Asian servers are pretty common, but Indian VPN servers are pretty rare. There are some out there though! You just have to do your homework.

You can use VPNs on Android phones and tables, as well as iPad and iPhone. Mac, Linux, and Windows can use VPN connection as well. For general browsing and TV streaming I'd recommend PPTP VPN which is widely available and works on all those operating systems I just mentioned. For security upgrades on your phones and tables, use L2TP. For better encryption on laptops and desktops, use OpenVPN.