The Bengal delta is the largest in the world and covers most of Bangladesh, this being one of the contributing factors to the natural landscape that dominates the country. But Bangladesh is also the world’s eighth most populous country and, like many others, is undergoing a phase of great development in different sectors, including with its cyber space since more and more Bangladeshi have access to high-speed internet.
However, the Asian country is ranked as ‘partly free’ by Freedom House due to content filtering, obstacles to access such as app blocking, complete internet shutdowns, and more. Therefore, VPNs are more of a necessity than a choice for Bangladeshi, who thankfully don’t have to break any laws to use one since they are legal in the country.
Best VPN Services for Bangladesh of 2024
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Using a Bangladeshi IP
In 2011 only 5% of people in Bangladesh had access to the internet but the country has been able to follow the same pattern of internet growth as many other countries in the world. In recent years it has boosted the overall internet penetration, even though the numbers from international sources and those belonging to the government differ quite a lot. For instance, while the UN’s International Telecommunication Union estimated internet penetration at 18% in 2016, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission reported it at close to 50%. What both parties agree on, however, is that nine out of ten people are connecting from mobile platforms. The widespread access to 4G was one of the biggest contributors to this, even though Speedtest.net’s global index shows that Bangladesh’s average speeds rank below 100 on mobile and close to that mark through broadband.
In terms of website blocking, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is in the middle of a war against adult content and over 20,000 targets have already been taken down. Other general services such as Facebook and WhatsApp were also blocked previously, too, while news and political sites are often on the BTRC ’s radar.
Bangladesh Online Privacy Laws
There are no laws addressing online privacy in Bangladesh. On the contrary, the country approved the so-called Digital Security Act 2018, which is being heavily criticized for restricting freedom of expression. Section 43 is one of the most problematic as it allows the authorities to arrest anyone they believe has broken the law by speaking out online against the government and the national symbols, spreading propaganda against Bangladesh’s Liberation War, and more. Even worse, sentences go up to 10 years and repeated infringements may result in a lifetime in prison. Consequently, organizations such as Amnesty International have urged for new laws to ensure the protection of the Bangladeshi when online.
Internet Censorship in Bangladesh
This draft law is a setback for a country where Freedom House has stated that “internet freedom continued to improve in 2018”. Currently, the bigger fight seems to be against adult content, as there are fewer restrictions on other websites than there have been before.
In 2015, for instance, ISPs were ordered by the government to ban Facebook, Viber, and WhatsApp, which led to a complete internet shutdown for over one hour. According to the authorities this happened “by mistake”, but another blackout would occur one year later. This time it was on purpose, as 35 more websites addressing the political environment at the time were banned once the internet was available again. Religion is another sensitive topic contributing to website and service bans in Bangladesh, where 90% of the population is Muslim . In 2016, two secure messaging apps – Threema and Wickr – were temporarily blocked for claims of spreading atheism and being critical of Islam.
However, content blocking and filtering is still very much a common practice in Bangladesh, as are data and speed caps.
Streaming Services in Bangladesh
Despite the implementation of 4G in the country, Bangladeshi speeds are far from suitable for uninterrupted streaming, especially considering the data caps commonly implemented by ISPs. While the country may not be ready for high-quality streaming just yet, the dominant services of the industry such as Netflix or Amazon Prime Video are already available. In response, Bangladeshi telecom operators prepared themselves for this by developing their own in-house alternatives. Bioscope, for instance, is a streaming service created in 2016 by Grameenphone, the leading telecommunications provider in Bangladesh, while rival companies Banglalink and Robi have developed Banglaflix and Robi TV, respectively.
Likewise, ISPs have also created their own music streaming services, which are very popular in the country given that international apps like Spotify or Apple Music are not available. Yonder Music is the leading app of this kind and it’s free for Robi and Airtel subscribers, while rivals Banglalink Vibe and GP Music are subscription-based services delivered by the two other ISPs mentioned above. Also, GAAN is exclusively dedicated to Bangla music and Bangladeshi musicians.
Free Bangladeshi VPN Trials
HideMyAss
While much of its popularity could be due to its funny name, for those see past that with HideMyAss are in for a great service. In fact, the company offers one of the largest VPN networks of the industry with more than 1,000 servers in nearly 200 countries, which means that very few are left out. Bangladesh certainly isn’t and while this is already pretty advantageous, the extraordinary device support makes it all even better. Not to mention the range of privacy and security features to keep you completely safe. Sadly, however, the company doesn’t offer a free trial, but its 30-day money-back guarantee means a risk-free test period instead.
ExpressVPN
While the overall speeds in Bangladesh are not the best, if there’s something that can help in that matter then it’s certainly ExpressVPN. This VPN provider truly lives up to its name by ensuring some of the best speeds on the market. Bangladesh is only one of the more than 90 countries that features in the server list, too, which counts over 3,000 other servers, all with unlimited bandwidth. The fact that ExpressVPN can be used on a handful of devices only makes this even more of a great choice, and anyone can test all of its components risk-free for 30 days.
PureVPN
With the exponential growth of the VPN market, many providers have developed very aesthetically attractive apps that are also intuitive for all kinds of users. But PureVPN is right up there with the best as not only does it thrive in this aspect but it also provides great features such as DNS and IPv6 leak preventions, split tunneling, a NAT firewall, and much more. In addition, more than 2,000 servers are scattered over 140 countries, with Bangladesh being just one of them. Discounts and flash sales are abundant with PureVPN, a service that can be fully tested using a 31-day money-back guarantee period.