How to Get a Yemeni IP Address in 2020: Surfing to Sana’a

If you’re a Yemeni living or working abroad and you want to access content that’s only available there, you’re going to need a Yemeni IP address. 

Online services offered by the government or financial companies change what you can see or block you based on your location. Banks do that to combat online fraud, but if you change your IP address, you’ll be able to log in to your online bank account like normal.

An IP address helps them see where you’re located, and if you’re not in Yemen, you’ll get an error message because of geoblocking. In short, this means that a website restricts access depending on geographical location. To get around such a block, you’ll need to get an IP address that’s registered in the country in question.

Streaming platforms also use geoblocks to restrict access to region-specific content. If you want to access the Yemeni Netflix library, for example, you’ll need a Yemeni IP address. Netflix is in most countries, but with different content libraries because it needs a license to air shows in every country. Read more about that in our guide on how to beat the Netflix VPN ban.

However, Yemen is in a state of civil war, and that’s playing out in the global routing table because the country’s internet has been partitioned along battle lines. Houthi rebels hold Sana’a, the nation’s capital in the north, and control Yemen’s national internet operator, YemenNet.

In July 2018, the Houthi rebels cut the main fiber optic lines that connect users, severing 80 percent of internet service in the country. That means they can shut down, throttle or censor internet connections, which isn’t a favorable condition for anyone without a Yemeni IP address, so we’re going to show you how to get one.

How to Get a Yemeni IP Address

There are two ways to get a Yemeni IP address, you can use a proxy or a virtual private network.

A proxy is the easiest route to take, but as you can read in our VPN vs. proxy vs. Tor comparison, you won’t be protected by security and your real IP address could easily exposed by anybody wanting to do so.

The best way to change your IP address is with a VPN. They’re easy to use, have good security and most providers keep your online activities private. They also protect your true IP address. Some can bypass Netflix’s smart detection system (read our Netflix proxy error guide to learn more), so you’ll need to get one that can access it and provide a Yemeni IP address.

HideMyAss

All providers in our best VPN roundup offer good security and get into streaming services, but as of this writing, only HideMyAss has servers in Yemen. It’s a good VPN with a massive server network, but its speeds aren’t on the level of the fastest VPN providers. It also keeps logs of your online activity, which is why it didn’t make the cut in our best VPN for travelers list.

HideMyAss offers a kill switch, but you can choose the apps it applies to instead of protecting the entire connection. Called “app kill,” the feature is missing from most VPNs, with one of the only other providers to offer it being Astrill (read our Astrill review).

HideMyAss’s security is good, with solid AES 256-bit encryption. Plus, its “freedom” mode automatically routes you through a country with free speech laws. That comes in handy when you want to bypass censorship and enjoy a more open internet. It can also access Netflix, but it has inconsistent to no access to other platforms, such as BBC iPlayer.

Its interface is good, and pricing is decent, though it isn’t the cheapest provider. A free seven-day trial is available, but it requires a payment method to be on record. There’s also a 30-day refund window. You can get support through live chat and email, as well as a community forum and knowledgebase. Read our HideMyAss review for more on the service.

Dangers of using a Yemeni IP Address

There are no real dangers to using a Yemeni IP address, but you need to keep some information about the country in mind because of the ongoing civil war. Since it began in 2015, journalists and human rights defenders have faced violent attacks from the Houthi rebels and their adversary, the Hadi government.

The only internet and data transmission service in the country, YemenNet, is controlled by the Houthis, and they shut it down in 2018 as an attack against the Saudi regime. After the 30-minute attack, people couldn’t communicate through messaging apps, such as Facebook, and many apps were blocked.

It isn’t just social media that’s getting blocked, though. Anything that’s anti-government, including those opposing the rebels’ viewpoints, is blocked, too. That leaves citizens struggling to stay updated on developments in the fighting and news of the outside world. Besides that, throttling and slow connections make it difficult for them to get work done.

Public WiFi is also popular, which exposes more people to cybercrime and the like. You can’t tell how secure those hotspots are, so using a VPN can protect you.

Final Thoughts

We hope you now know the safest way to get a Yemeni IP address. The best route is to use a VPN because you’ll be protected from online snoops and other threats, and your connection will be secured, too. Besides getting you a Yemeni IP address, it’ll hide your true IP address.

We’d normally recommend more than one provider, but in this case, HideMyAss is the only one with servers in Yemen. It’s not a bad service because it offers good security, excellent customer support and other useful features. Plus, you can use its free seven-day trial and 30-day refund period to see if you like it.

Do you have recommendations for getting a Yemeni IP address? Let us know in the comments section. Check out our VPN library for other useful guides. Thank you for reading.