How to listen to TMS abroad (September 2023)

Update: BBC has made TMS available to overseas listeners again via a special YouTube stream. Here’s the link to Day 1 of the first Ashes 2023 test. Come on England! https://www.youtube.com/live/dPwBfHtBFkk.

You can watch the Ashes for free with ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) and Australian free-to-air TV station 9 (9now).

If, like me, you’re not in the UK but still want to listen to TMS you may find you’re struggling to listen to the radio channel outside the UK.

That’s because TMS doesn’t have the rights to broadcast outside the UK. Don’t worry though there’s an easy way to listen to TMS anywhere in the world.

Here we show you how to listen to TMS abroad using a VPN that works with BBC iPlayer Radio.

See also:

• How to watch F1 in the UK without Sky: It’s EASY and cheaper! (September 2023)
• How to watch Peacock in the UK: The EASY method! (September 2023)

How to listen to TMS abroad?

This article is here to help those of us who are not in Blighty for the Test or ODI series, but still want to follow the action by listening to TMS.

Until recently, all you needed was a cheap VPN and an internet connection to watch iPlayer and/or listen to its radio stations while overseas. Even Aggers himself tweeted out a link to TunnelBear to help those of us stranded overseas.

However, times have changed and the BBC has got stricter with people using VPNs to access its content. Now, you need to use a VPN that knows how to beat the BBC’s VPN blocking methods.

How to listen to TMS abroad: Quick Guide

Note: If you’re having trouble streaming via the BBC Sounds app, don’t panic. Switch to the streaming TMS via a web browser or the BBC Sport app, and you’ll have more success.

These VPNs all play an on-going game of Cat and Mouse with the BBC, in order to keep their servers working. This is vital as the BBC has a technical team working on ways to blacklist every shared-VPN server from accessing iPlayer.

ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) employs its own full-time technical teams. And their job is to constantly monitor the connections with iPlayer. If there’s a problem they create workarounds ASAP.

Why do I need a VPN to listen to TMS?

The BBC streams all of its radio stations online. This means you can listen to BBC radio on any computer, tablet or smartphone that has an internet connection. However, this is restricted to UK users only for licensing/legal reasons.

This is a good and a bad thing. It means citizens of other countries can’t access BBC content for free. But it also means licence-paying UK citizens are also covered by the same block. The only way around this is by spoofing your IP location by using a VPN

During previous Ashes tours, the TMS team has made its broadcast free-for-all via a dedicated steam on YouTube, so keep an eye out for that too. However, this seems to have been shut down for more recent tours of other nations.

The best way to guarantee uninterrupted TMS coverage of the England cricket team is to download ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) and listen to BBC 5Live Sports Extra through the BBC website of the BBC iPlayer Radio app.

How much data do I need to listen to TMS?

This depends on what quality you’re streaming. Lower-quality is broadcast at 64kbps, with the best-quality require 320kbps (overkill for talk radio). This puts your best/worst case scenarios at 20MB and 150MB per hour.