Singapore is quickly becoming one of the most popular countries for western expatriates to live in, and for good reason. It’s a great city to live in.
But what many people from Canada, UK, USA or other countries are quickly finding out is that the internet is not as lenient when it comes to
Governments and ISPs across the world monitor their users' online activities. If found accessing restricted sites or streaming copyright content, you could get into serious legal trouble. Currently, your IP is visible to everyone. I strongly recommend you to get the best VPN for surfing and streaming and hide your identity so that your entertainment doesn’t take a bad turn.
Here are our top picks and reasons why you should be using a VPN.
I use and recommend Express VPN which I consider the best value and most secure VPN in the industry. It is very easy to install on any device including mobile phones. Also, it comes with a 30-days money-back guarantee. If you don't like their service, you can always ask for a refund.
A VPN offers many benefits to virtually all people around the world but this article is tailored to this specific subgroup as they face unique hurdles—most particularly the hurdle of getting used to a completely different internet climate while trying to access content from back home.
Why Should Expats in Singapore Use a VPN?
You may be wondering why a VPN is so much more necessary in Singapore compared to Western nations. Perhaps you’re currently a Singaporean expat who doesn’t quite see the need for one yet. Or maybe you are soon to be living in Singapore and are thinking to yourself that since you don’t need one where you currently live, you probably won’t be needing one there either.
While a VPN isn’t always totally necessary, it does offer the same kind of browsing freedom you had in your native land as well as multiple benefits.
There are several reasons why a VPN is a great addition to your internet package but let’s go over the three most important ones.
1. Bypassing and Protection from Government Interference
Singapore is a great country to reside in but unfortunately the same cannot be said of its online experience. The country has a long history of internet censorship and content blocking.
The IMDA (The
2. Regain your Homeland Browsing Experience
Using the internet from Singapore is not as simple as just logging into your Netflix account and resuming your progress as usual. Not only are some TV services blocked but many of them don’t offer the same library due to regular region restriction practices.
If you want to have the same library you had back in your home country then a VPN will give you access to these programs by hooking you up with the appropriate server. This is why it is important to choose a VPN that offers the regions you want access to, be it UK, USA, or anywhere else.
3. Protect your IP Address and Online Identity
Because online regulation is ruled with more of an iron fist in Singapore, it is always important to keep your security and privacy uncompromised. Choosing a VPN with ironclad protocols is arguably the most important aspect of virtual private networks in the first place.
While we don’t advise or advocate committing felonies, it’s only natural to want to access your home content with the peace of mind that only a VPN can provide. Safely accessing your favorite websites should be a right that all people of the world can enjoy, including Singapore residents.
While expanding the amount of content you can access and increasing your personal privacy go a long way for the average user, the three reasons above are arguably essential for those living in Singapore.
What to Look for in a VPN
There are a few characteristics everyone should be on the lookout for when purchasing a VPN. Price, security, server locations
- Price: You want pricing to be as cheap as possible for obvious reasons.
- Security: Top-notch security ensures that your identity is preserved and kept anonymous always even if the company happens to be shut down.
- Server Locations: Server locations improve reliability when it comes to accessing content.
- Speed: Speed should be self-explanatory: you want the best upload and download speeds possible, especially if you will be dabbling with streaming or torrenting.
Now, let’s look at the three best VPNs for Singapore expats.
Top 3 Best VPNs for Expats living in Singapore
1. ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is one of the most popular VPNs in the world and is often considered a premium service. This is due to it being one of the more expensive options on the market. It will meet all of your needs without a shadow of a doubt.
Pricing for ExpressVPN is as follows: one month will cost you $12.95 and six months will be $9.99 per month. Their best deal is a 12-year subscription that comes with an extra 3 months for free for only $6.67 per month. ExpressVPN also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
ExpressVPN offers over 90 countries where servers can be found and connected to, including the United States, Canada, UK, Germany, France, and Japan. Anyone can access websites and content from dozens of different nations using the robust database ExpressVPN provides.
While it is a great choice of a VPN no matter where you live, the benefits are even better for residents of Singapore. The speed offered here is also some of the best you’ll be able to find. Worldwide download and upload rates average out at 60 and 25mb/s respectively. Luckily for Singaporean residents, these results are even better thanks to the servers ExpressVPN has installed within the country. Results may vary based on how you perform your tests but download and upload rates tend to be around 145 and 100mb/s respectively. This makes ExpressVPN a phenomenal choice for anyone who needs high capacity internet for activities like torrenting or HD streaming.
Like any reliable VPN, it uses AES-256 encryption which is the modern-day standard of online privacy. Combine that with the ability to pay with Bitcoin and their no logs policy (your IP address is never recorded) and you have yourself a fast and safe VPN with great server diversification. It may be a little pricey but it’s worth the cost if you need especially high bandwidth.
2. PureVPN
If you want a cheaper option and don’t need high-end speeds to satisfy your typical internet needs then PureVPN is a great alternative to ExpressVPN. It offers a large amount of servers across the world in numbers that most other VPNs cannot even hope to match.
PureVPN offers some very lenient pricing plans: a single month costs $10.95 but a single year will only cost you about $5.41 per month. Even better is their two-year plan which costs only $3.54 a month. That’s $85 for 24 months of service, a magnificent deal to say the least. Pair that with a 31 day money-back guarantee and this deal is practically irresistible.
The server locations are undeniably impressive and will satisfy any user looking to traverse the entire world of online content. Nearly 150 countries are available across six major continents with over 2000 servers to pick from. If you care more about diverse locations than anything else then PureVPN will surely have you covered.
If you have a family then the 5-multi account login feature will be of great use to you. The entire household can easily browse the web simultaneously with everyone protected by PureVPN.
While streaming services like Netflix and Hulu work diligently to block certain VPN protocols, they can only properly deny access on certain servers. Since PureVPN offers so many different countries and servers, you can easily and quickly hop onto a different location no matter which nation’s database you’re trying to access. This is a great benefit for expats who want to make sure they get the exact same content they had back home.
3. CyberGhost VPN
The previous VPNs are great at accessing worldwide content outside of Singapore but they’re not the best when it comes to bypassing censored content within Singapore. For that specific task, our final recommendation has to be the underrated CyberGhost VPN.
Pricing for CyberGhost is quite similar to PureVPN and is overall very affordable. One month will cost you $12.99 but half a year will only be $7.99 per month and 18 months can be purchased for only $3.50 a month. $63 for a year and a half is a bargain indeed.
What makes CyberGhost VPN so special for expats and natives of Singapore is that it is great at unblocking various websites and blocking out unwanted software. The Pro version of this service can grant access to many sites like Youtube, Facebook and Netflix. This can be done at home or even on a laptop at a public wi-fi hot spot. While any reputable VPN will do a good job at accessing censored content, CyberGhost is known to be arguably the best at doing this for regions such as Singapore or Hong Kong.
CyberGhost also does a great job at blocking out millions of identified advertisements and thousands of known malicious malware. It’s another line of defense that will compliment any firewall you may already be using.
Just like ExpressVPN and PureVPN you have