It can be frustrating when RTE Player suddenly stops working with your VPN. This could happen due to multiple reasons. Maybe RTE Player is getting conflicting location information from some old cookies or worst-case scenario: the streaming platform has successfully identified and blocked the IP address that your VPN has provided you.
Whatever the issue may be, this article will go through each issue and how to fix them so that RTE Player starts working with a VPN.
See also:
- BBC iPlayer buffering with VPN? Try these EASY fixes!
- BBC iPlayer not working with VPN? Here’s how I FIXED that!
- How to watch RTE Player abroad: Watch RTE when you’re not in Ireland
RTE Player not working with VPN: Fixes
To get RTE Player to start working with a VPN again, follow these steps in order. However, I recommend you read through the rest of the article to understand why the streaming platform stopped working in the first place.
Total Time: 3 minutes
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Delete Cookies
Whenever you go online, you might have noticed websites ask you to save cookies. These temporary files are stored in your browser and make your browsing experience much more streamlined.
But, they can also store information about your location. These files can be accessible to RTE Player and can be an indicator that you are located outside Ireland.
Deleting cookies is a good place to start so that RTE Player cannot identify your location.
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Connect to a different Irish server
Because using a VPN to watch RTE Player outside Ireland is common knowledge, the platform constantly tries to block VPN connections. RTE Player does this by blacklisting the IP address that the VPN provides you.
If more than 8-10 (an average household) connections are connected to RTE Player using the same IP address, it knows this is a VPN and blocks it.
Just because your current IP address is blocked doesn’t mean that the entire VPN is blocked. A good VPN like ExpressVPN ($6.67/month).
Changing servers will provide you with a new IP address which is, hopefully, not blocked by RTE Player. And that will allow you to watch RTE Player with your VPN again.
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Upgrade to a better VPN
If the first two steps don’t work, unfortunately, all the IP addresses your VPN can provide have been blocked by RTE Player.
To get around this you need to upgrade to a more reliable VPN. I recommend ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) as these VPNs are well equipped to get around RTE Player’s blocking techniques.
These VPNs have multiple servers in Ireland with a large number of IP addresses at their disposal. So, when inevitably a specific IP is blacklisted by RTE Player, the VPN just closes that IP and replaces it with a new one that is not blocked. They are always a step ahead of the streaming platform and thus work reliably anywhere in the world.
There is also a 30-day money-back guarantee with ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) and Private Internet Access ($2.03/month), and they both have excellent support networks so that you can be comfortable upgrading to their service.
Why does RTE Player block VPNs?
RTE Player is an Irish streaming platform that is only available to customers in Ireland. Simply put, it only has rights to broadcast its content in Ireland.
You can still watch shows on RTE Player’s ‘Home’ tab as these shows have international broadcasting rights. The issue arises when you try to watch ‘Live’ or ‘Box Set’ tabs. These tabs have content that only has exclusive broadcasting rights to Ireland.
RTE Player will still be subject to copyright claims and licensing issues if a customer outside Ireland accesses their exclusive broadcasting rights content. Be it with a VPN or otherwise.
In order to prevent these issues, RTE Player tries to prevent VPNs from accessing their services.
How does RTE Player block VPNs?
Like other major platforms, RTE Player uses three main techniques to first identify and then block IP addresses that belong to VPNs.
- It scans your connection for DNS and WebRTC leaks.
- It uses GeoIP database services that provide location data for IP addresses. If the IP provided to you matches the one in the database, RTE Player will block your connection.
- VPNs have more customers than IP addresses. This results in multiple customers using the same IP address to use RTE Player. This is flagged as abnormal behavior by the streaming platform. RTE Player scans for abnormal behaviour and when it finds it, it will block the IP address.
Do VPNs still work with RTE Player?
VPNs that work with RTE Player are the ones that have the means to get around RTE Player’s blocking techniques.
VPNs with limited servers in Ireland and just a handful of IP addresses are at a disadvantage because eventually, all the available IP addresses will be identified and blocked by RTE Player. This is probably what happened to your VPN.
You can wait for your VPN to release fresh IP addresses which are yet to be identified by RTE Player but, the fact that you’re running into this issue means it doesn’t have the means to get around RTE Player’s blocks. The new IP addresses will inevitably get blocked too.
As mentioned earlier, high-end streaming VPNs like ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) and Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) have a reliable way to circumvent this problem due to the availability of multiple Irish servers and a large number of undetected IP addresses.
Using a reliable VPN will ensure that you can watch your favorite content on RTE Player from anywhere in the world.
Best VPNs to watch RTE Player
1. ExpressVPN 🥇
Why You Should Use ExpressVPN? It’s the fastest and MOST reliable VPN of 2023
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
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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 ($6.66/month) is still the best VPN. And importantly, it ALWAYS has servers that are open with major streaming sites such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video, etc.
ExpressVPN is usually very good at playing Cat and Mouse with online streaming sites. 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 prevents its IPs from getting blacklisted for “abnormal” usage in the first place.
Check out our full ExpressVPN review.
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2. NordVPN 🥈
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ No logs
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 6-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ No refunds for purchases from iTunes/App store
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Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
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 it’s 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 a 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 tunneling 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.
Read our NordVPN review.
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3. Private Internet Access
The BEST low-cost VPN for streaming!
Pros
- ✅ Fast and reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Only 48 server locations
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Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
Number of servers: 25,000+ | Speed: >75% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 70 in 74 countries | Devices supported: 10 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $2.03/month for 3 years
- $7.50/month for 6 months
- $11.99/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-day 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).
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4. Ivacy
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ Dedicated streaming servers
- ✅ 5-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
Cons
- ❌ Only 5 devices
- ❌ Sometimes runs slow
- ❌ Occasionally block by streaming sites for several days
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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.
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5. CyberGhost
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ 1-day free trial
- ✅ Reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 7-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
- ❌ Average speed scores
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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
- $2.75/month for 3 years
- $3.69/month for 2 years
- $5.99/month for 1 year
- $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.
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Is watching RTE Player with a VPN legal?
Yes, watching RTE Player with a VPN is perfectly legal, so long as you’re in a country where VPN’s are legal. If you’re in China, Russia, Iran, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, North Korea, Iraq, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Egypt, Eritrea, Seychelles, Suriname, Namibia, Slovenia, Nicaragua or Tajikistan, VPNs are heavily restricted or in some cases outright banned and we do not advise using a VPN to watch RTE Player in these locations.
Fortunately, if you aren’t in one of these countries then using RTE Player with a VPN is legal. If we look at the streaming services terms of use, we can see that there isn’t any restrictions on using a VPN with RTE Player.
The only entry we can see is “Please note that the use of VPN or any software that intercepts or block network traffic may restrict your ability to watch content.”
What this means is using a VPN to watch RTE Player is perfectly legal however the streaming service may try and block VPNs from accessing the platform.
