US Netflix not working in New Zealand? Don’t worry. In this article, we’ll walk you through how you can fix that in less than five minutes.
The workaround is simple. You need to use a VPN with servers that aren’t blacklisted by Netflix.
There are only a couple of VPNs that offer this – we explain why below. These are NordVPN ($2.75/month), ExpressVPN ($6.66/month).
“I’ve been using ExpressVPN ($6.66/month) to watch US Netflix since January without any problems.”
Note, if you’re experiencing problems accessing US Netflix on a Fire TV Stick, you’re not alone. Switch to a laptop, turn on ExpressVPN or NordVPN, and watch US Netflix via Chrome.
See also: How to watch BBC iPlayer in New Zealand.
Why does Netflix block VPNs (from New Zealand)?
It all about the money. Netflix licenses its content on a country-by-country basis. The amount it pays rights holders to add a TV series or film to a country’s library will depend on the number of customers it has in that country. In New Zealand, there are fewer than 500,000 households that have access to Netflix. In the US, this figure is over 55,000,000. This creates a mismatch in buying power. Which is why the US has a much bigger library than New Zealand.
Pre-2016, Netflix customers got wise to this and started spoofing their internet location using cheap VPNs. This had the potential to cause major problems for Netflix. Rights holders could demand that Netflix had to buy global licenses for its content as it was technically available to a global audience. Failing to act would be costly for Netflix.
As a result, Netflix started blocking its customers from using a VPN to location spoof and access other country’s libraries.
Related: BBC iPlayer not working with VPN? Here’s how to fix that!
How does Netflix block VPNs?
The way Netflix protects its borders is pretty simple. It blacklists IP addresses that are known VPN servers. The way it detects a VPN server is equally simple. It’s all based on fair usage.
Imagine a typical house. On average, a house will have between one and six people living in it. Which means there will be up to six people using the internet at any given time. Which creates the potential for six simultaneous Netflix connections. Netflix would consider this as fair usage.
Now imagine a VPN server in the US. It will have thousands/millions of customers. And when too many users connect to Netflix from the same VPN server, Netflix blacklists that server’s IP address.
See also: How to watch American Netflix in NZ.
How to fix?
The workaround is simple. You need to use a VPN that lets you access IPs that aren’t blacklisted by Netflix.
ExpressVPN and NordVPN are the best at this. Both of these providers have thousands of servers in the US and the software to spread customers across the servers evenly. More importantly, both Nord and Express play a game of Cat and Mouse with Netflix. When one of their servers/IP gets blacklisted, they simply create and open a new one.
The other alternative, as we mentioned above, is to buy a dedicated IP from a VPN provider. PureVPN offers this to customers for $1.99/month on top of a standard subscription ($2.49/month). Buying a dedicated IP means you’re the only person who has access to that server. Which means it’ll never get blacklisted for abnormal usage like traditional VPN servers. NordVPN also offers a dedicated IP, but at $99/year, it’s a lot more expensive.
Read next: Which VPNs still work with Netflix?
