If you’re travelling outside the US, you may have noticed Netflix doesn’t have all the same shows as it does at home.
For example, you can watch Better Call Saul on Netflix in the US, but it won’t be available if you’re in the UK.
The reason this happens is because film and TV studies enforce copyright and licensing restrictions by country. Netflix has the rights to broadcast Better Call Saul in the US but not in the UK.
This can be frustrating when you’re travelling. However, there’s an easy way to get around this issue.
A reliable VPN can trick Netflix into thinking you’re watching its content from within the United States. This will provide you with the same Netflix library you get at home so you can watch all of your favourite shows anywhere in the world.
This article will explain how to get a reliable VPN that will allow you to watch US Netflix while travelling.
When Netflix started, it was only available in the US. It didn’t expand for ten years until 2016, when Netflix went through a massive expansion. Now it’s available almost anywhere.
Although Netflix as a platform is available worldwide, the content it broadcasts varies from country to country.
This is because film and television studios spend a lot of money creating their productions. And to protect their investment, they enforce copyright and licensing measures regarding where and how their content is broadcast.
Studios are the ones that decide how and where to market their content. A TV series might be popular in the US, so the studio may sell the US broadcast rights to Netflix. This means you’ll be able to access that show with US Netflix; however, it might not be popular in the UK, so they may potentially sell the license to a UK television channel. This means you won’t be able to watch it using UK Netflix.
Basically, Netflix is different in every country because film and TV studios may or may not sell Netflix the rights to broadcast their content in that country.
These VPNs allow you to trick Netflix into thinking you’re accessing it from within the US. And this will give you access to the US Netflix library.
Whenever you go online, you’re given a unique IP address. This IP contains geographic information that discloses where you’re located.
When you connect to Netflix, it scans this IP address and uses this information to determine which Netflix library you’ll have access to. If you’re in the UK, you’ll be using a UK IP address, and Netflix will show its UK library.
NordVPN ($3.49/month) or Ivacy ($1.33/month) allow you to change your IP address. When you use these VPNs, you can choose to change your IP address to one based in the US. Now when Netflix scans your IP address, it will think you’re in the US, and you’ll have access to the US Netflix library. It’s that simple.
Does Netflix block VPNs?
Because VPNs are a good way of watching region-locked Netflix outside its broadcast zones, Netflix tries to block VPNs.
The good news is Netflix cannot block a VPN in its entirety. The bad news is it can block the IP addresses a VPN provides.
For lesser VPNs, especially free VPNs, this can be a problem.
Free VPNs have a massive number of customers and cannot provide enough IP addresses to keep up with the demand. To get around this, lesser VPNs force customers to share IP addresses.
Netflix knows this, and it monitors for what it calls an “abnormal” amount of connections coming from the same IP address. Because lesser VPNs force customers to share IP’s often hundreds of customers connect to Netflix via the same IP address. This is deemed abnormal by Netflix, and the streaming service will block that connection.
Over time, Netflix can identify all the IP addresses these VPNs can provide and that VPN won’t work anymore.
What VPNs work with Netflix?
The VPNs that work with Netflix are the ones that meet three key criteria. First, they need to have a lot of IP addresses, so there’s less chance you’ll share an IP with another customer. Second, they need to have reliable servers around the world you can connect to and thirdly and most importantly, they need to have measures in place to get around Netflix’s VPN blocks.
Even the best VPNs have their IP addresses identified and blocked by Netflix from time to time. It’s how they react to this that sets them apart from lesser VPNs.
NordVPN ($3.49/month) or Ivacy ($1.33/month) play a game of cat and mouse with Netflix. When Netflix blocks an IP address provided by these VPNs, they’ll close that IP address and open a new one. This will allow you to watch Netflix while travelling reliably. They also have a lot of IP addresses and some of the fastest servers on the market.
Number of servers: 5,000+ | Speeds: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 62 countries | Devices supported: 6 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
$3.49/month for 2-years
$6.99/month for 1-year
$11.95/month for 1 month
NordVPN is the most widely-used VPN in the world. And its easy to see why. It’s a polished app that delivers fast connections (more on this later) to a massive network of VPN servers. It’s the most reliable at unblocking popular streaming services too – US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. This is because NordVPN hired full-time technical team (that’s responsible for monitoring its servers connections with popular TV streaming services) and has been aggressively investing in its network of IP addresses in key locations. Another interesting thing to note is that NordVPN is an industry leader in its development of Nordlynx technology. Nordlynx is built using the WireGuard, a new VPN tunnelling protocol designed to outperform current standards (OpenVPN and IPSec). The benefits, according to NordVPN, are dramatically faster transfer speeds while connected to a VPN. My tests – New Zealand to London – confirm that Nordlynx is currently the fastest VPN on the market. However, the difference isn’t dramatic, a few Mbps is all.
Number of servers: 1,000+ | Speed: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 275 in 100 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
$1.16/month for 5-years
$3.50/month for 1-year
$9.99/month for 1 month
If you’re looking for an excellent VPN, with an even better price tag, Ivacy ($1.16/month) is a great option. This VPN has all the features you need to stream BBC iPlayer, in HD, from any country in the world. I’ve been testing the app recently on Mac, PC, Android, iOS and FireStick and the results have been impressive – unlocking BBC iPlayer, US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. with ease. The Ivacy app is a little different in regards to its UX (user experience). Instead of just selecting a UK server, you need to select the specific BBC iPlayer server. Don’t worry, this isn’t a bad thing – by connecting to a dedicated BBC iPlayer server, it simply means that you’re connecting to an IP address that Ivacy knows works with BBC iPlayer. For an extra $1.99/month (£1.74) you can add-on a dedicated IP. This will buy you sole access to an IP address in a country of your choice, meaning you won’t have to share your IP (and speeds) with any other use. I don’t recommend this though, using the regular Ivacy servers is enough 95 per cent of the time.
Number of servers: 3,000+ | Speed: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 160 in 94 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
$6.66/month for 15 months
$9.99/month for 6 months
$12.95/month for 1 month
ExpressVPN is still one of the best VPNs you can buy. However, we’ve got it ranked in the number three spot for a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s the most expensive VPN on the market. This was understandable when it was also the fastest and most reliable VPN too. But now it’s not. NordVPN is. ExpressVPN has recently been struggling to unblock some big streaming sites – BBC iPlayer and BeIN Sports – too. And importantly, it ALWAYS has servers that are open with major streaming sites such as Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video etc. ExpressVPN is usually very good at playing Cat and Mouse with online streaming sites (apart from BBC iPlayer). Meaning, whenever one of its servers is blacklisted it creates a new one – giving its users a constant stream of servers that aren’t blocked. Needless to say, this is a valuable attribute if you’re looking for a VPN to unblock streaming sites. Its app is easy-to-use and free to download on pretty much any device you can think of. Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, FireStick, Android TV, Roku, PS4, Xbox, Linux, even Apple TV (with a workaround). It’s got it all covered. The app is another main reason this VPN is so good at unblocking TV streaming sites (that claim they block VPNs) is that its software takes a pragmatic approach to user management. While other VPNs tempt customers by promising them access to hundreds/thousands of servers in multiple countries, ExpressVPN does things differently. With ExpressVPN you only have a handful of server locations to choose from. Once you select your location the app takes care of the rest. Assigning you to the fastest available server that’s not oversubscribed. This simple technique is so important, as it keeps ExpressVPN’s servers operating at lightning-fast speeds and prevent its IPs from getting blacklisted for “abnormal” usage in the first place.
Number of servers: 25,000+ | Speeds: >75% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 70 in 74 countries | Devices supported: 10 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
$2.19/month for 3-years
$3.33/month for 1-year
$11.95/month for 1-month
Private Internet Access is one of the leading no-log VPN services with over 1 million paying customers. This VPN is one of the best in the industry at beating streaming sites’ VPN bans. It provides reliable connections with US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+ Amazon Prime Video, etc. It also allows 10 simultaneous devices to be connected to its servers at the same time, so you can share the account with your close friends. If, for whatever reason, you’re not happy with Private Internet Access, there’s a 24/7 live chat support available to assist you with your problem. PIA also offers the industry-standard 30-days money-back guarantee. From my tests (from New Zealand) I was able to get download speeds of 70 Mbps while connected to a UK server using the Private Internet Access VPN (my non-VPN speed is 100 Mbps).
Number of servers: 6,000+ | Speeds: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 200 in 90 countries | Devices supported: 7 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
$2.75/month for 3 years
$3.69/month for 2 years
$5.99/month for 6 months
$12.99/month for 1 month
CyberGhost is one of the more established VPNs on the market. It has a well-established, and well-tested global network of servers that perform well. From my tests over the past several months, CyberGhost has no trouble at unblocking major streaming services – US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max etc. This VPN performed well at maintaining download speeds, well above 65 per cent of my regular (non VPN) ISP speed. That said, there’s nothing really unique about the service. Which forces you to look at its price-point. And there’s nothing special here. Its short-term $12.99/month price tag puts is well above the industry average of $10.10/month. Similarly, its long-term $2.75/month for 3 years deal isn’t much of a “deal” either. Oddly, CyberGhost’s most unique feature is its a 1-day, no obligations, free trial. This is an appealing offer to customers who are new to VPNs. However, it’s important to remember that most reputable VPNs will offer customers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so try not to be too seduced by the offer.
