Best VPN for Oman: An Ultimate Guide
Chris
Chris, a UK-born media connoisseur, is an expert in watching international TV. Known as "The Global Screen Wanderer", he has travelled extensively across the globe with long stints away from home. With over 10 years of experience he has become the go-to guru for streaming content from home and abroad.
Whether you want to watch TV abroad or just unblock sites then you’ll have a real need if you’re in Oman. It doesn’t matter if you’re an expat living in Oman or you’ve lived in Oman all your life, the simple fact is the internet is heavily censored.
So if you want to watch TV services that aren’t available in Oman from your home country, access social media sites that are often blocked or even watch something of an adult nature you’ll need a workaround.
How can I access an unrestricted internet in Oman
The way to access internet sites that are otherwise blocked in Oman is to use a service called a VPN. VPN is the abbreviated name for a Virtual Private Network.
A VPN works by tunnelling your internet connection out of Oman to another country and accessing the internet via that tunnel. This means if the social media site you want to access is blocked in Oman but accessible in another country then by accessing via that country it becomes available to you in Oman.
Although this sounds risky it isn’t because the connection between yourself and the VPN server located in another country is fully encrypted which means anyone who wanted to snoop on what you’re accessing or watching couldn’t. Essentially your internet session becomes private because of the strong encryption used.
What are the pitfalls of a VPN
There really aren’t many at all, in fact, it’s going to enable you to access a free and open internet making services that are usually blocked in Oman, unblocked!
It is possible that a tactic called Deep Packet Inspection could be used to try and determine that you are using a VPN service. Although this won’t allow any government organisation to know what you’re doing online it can lead to them knowing you are using a VPN service and possibly block access to that VPN provider.
Don’t worry though, many VPN providers have introduced specific modes such as Chameleon from the VPN provider VyprVPN who created a mode especially for countries such as Oman and others like Iran and China that have strict internet restrictions. The purpose of this special mode is to bypass such Deep Packet Inspection and disguise the VPN connection as another type of connection.
Where can I get the best VPN for Oman
Choosing the best VPN for Oman is a difficult choice. There are so many providers out there and some are better than others. A couple of good providers spring to mind such as ExpressVPN due to their huge range of server locations which will allow you to connect to a massive range of different countries making nearly every website and service accessible.
Other providers such as VyprVPN have dedicated modes should your VPN connection be discovered and blocked.
My top three choices for VPN providers for those in Oman are as follows and any of these three will be suitable for you.
- ExpressVPN – Recommended!
- IPVanish
- VyprVPN
ExpressVPN
ExpressVPNis one of the fastest, most robust and reliable service. Locations in Cyprus, Israel, and Egypt will have you covered in Oman with their main selling point being they have more countries available than the above two providers.
ExpressVPN has VPN servers in over 94 countries meaning you’ll be able to access more content that is restricted in Oman than with any other provider.
If you don’t fancy searching about then ExpressVPN is certainly worth checking out. They have a 30 day money back guarantee so if you don’t like the service you have a good period of time to get your money back.
IPVanish
IPVanish has servers in over 60 different countries. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Mumbai in India are the closest locations. If you want to go further afield to bypass any restrictions in those countries then you have options all over Europe and even the United States and Australia if you wanted.
For those in Oman connecting to European servers will not only give you better speeds but also allow you to access a fully unblocked internet as many countries in Europe do not restrict websites.
As well as unblocking access to sites that are blocked in Oman you’ll also be able to stream content from the likes of the UK’s BBC iPlayer and Hulu in the United States.
VyprVPN
VyprVPN also has a large amount of servers but their best selling feature is the Chameleon VPN mode that disguises your internet traffic so that it does not show as a VPN connection and so any strict blocks that the Oman government put in place should, in theory, be easily bypassed.
A free 3 day trial is an option with VyprVPN allowing you time to test the service without paying. If you’re happy then after 3 days has finished you’ll be charged but if you’re unhappy you can cancel without issue.
VyprVPN has recently opened servers in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar. After that the closest servers are a little further away in Thailand and Turkey but aside from those they cover most European countries, the United States, Asia and Australia giving you plenty of options for connection.
Conclusion
Finding the best VPN for Oman can be a difficult job. If you’re like me then you don’t have time and money to waste trying the thousands of options out there so I hope this guide has been of use to you.
The simple fact is a VPN is critical for those that live, work or travel to Oman to be able to access an open and unrestricted internet. If you’re accessing services that are restricted or keeping up to date with social media a VPN service will definitely improve your daily internet use in Oman.
Happy web surfing!
Images courtesy of domdeen at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
