If you’ve been watching The CW with a VPN and it’s suddenly stopped working, don’t panic. There are several fixes you can try to resolve this problem.
In this article, I will explain how you can fix The CW not working with your VPN, so you can get back to watching The CW anywhere in the world.
See also:
- How to watch Rakuten TV anywhere in the world: The EASY method!
- VPN not working with Paramount+? Try these EASY fixes!
- How to watch The CW outside the US: It ONLY takes 2-minutes!
The CW not working with VPN: Fixes
To fix The CW not working with your VPN, try these simple fixes. Follow them in order. If one fix doesn’t work, move on to the next one until The CW works with your VPN again.
Total Time: 2 minutes
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Delete Cookies
You may have noticed that some websites ask you to accept cookies. These aren’t malicious files. They’re designed to make your online experience more streamlined.
To do that, cookies store information about your location. The CW can access this information to determine your location when connecting to its service.
If it finds you’re outside of the US it will block your connection even if you’re using a VPN.
A good place to start to fix The CW not working with your VPN is deleting your cookies.
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Change to a different US server
If your VPN was working with The CW and has suddenly stopped working, it may be because The CW has identified the IP address your VPN has provided you and blocked it.
Just because the CW has blocked this IP address, it doesn’t mean it’s blocked all of the IP addresses your VPN can provide.
Changing to a different server will give you a different IP address. If this IP hasn’t been identified and blocked by The CW, your VPN will work with the streaming service again.
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Upgrade to a better VPN
If deleting your cookies or changing to a different server doesn’t work, The CW has managed to identify and block all of the IP addresses your VPN can provide.
To fix this, you can wait for your VPN to release more IP addresses that The CW hasn’t blocked, but that could take a long time. Also, if your VPN doesn’t have measures in place to stay ahead of The CW’s blocks, then eventually, those new IP addresses will be blocked, and you’ll run into the same problem.
The best way to fix this issue is to upgrade to a VPN that has measures in place to get around The CW’s blocks. We recommend ExpressVPN ($6.67/month).
This VPN has measures in place to get around The CW’s blocks. These measures will prevent you from running into the same errors you’ve been coming across when trying to watch Netflix with your current VPN.
Why does The CW block my VPN?
The reason The CW blocks your VPN is all to do with broadcast rights and international licensing.
The CW only has the rights to broadcast its content in the US. The CW blocks anyone outside the US from using its service to protect itself from potential licensing issues.
VPNs are a well-known way of watching US streaming services outside of the States. The CW knows this, and it tries to block VPNs from accessing its service. Your VPN isn’t working with The CW because it hasn’t managed to get around these blocks.
How does The CW block my VPN?
The CW can’t block a VPN in its entirety, but it can block the IP addresses it provides.
It does this using three main techniques:
- The most common technique is to do with the IP addresses that your VPN can provide. VPN providers have more customers than IP addresses; this means that customers are forced to share the same IP addresses. Usually, only a household with a few devices uses the same IP address. When The CW sees hundreds or even thousands of connections coming through on the same IP address, it knows that it is a VPN, and it blocks it.
- The CW monitors for IP, DNS and WebRTC leaks that can tip the service off you are using a VPN.
- The CW teams up with GeoIP databases like Maxmind to identify IP addresses. If the IP address your VPN provides is on one of these databases, The CW will be able to find out where in the world you are connecting to the internet from, and it will block you.
What VPNs work with The CW?
The VPNs that work with The CW are the ones that can provide IP addresses that the streaming service hasn’t blacklisted.
For lesser VPNs, this can be an issue because IP addresses are expensive. You could wait for your VPN to purchase IPs that The CW hasn’t blocked but that could take a long time.
The best VPNs to watch The CW have measures in place to get around its VPN blocking techniques. ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) have very good methods to get around these blocks.
First, they have many IP addresses, so the chances of you sharing an IP with another customer are less. Secondly, and most importantly, when an IP address provided by ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) gets blacklisted by The CW, these VPNs will close that IP and open a new one.
This cat and mouse game keeps you one step ahead of The CWs blocks, and it allows you to reliably watch The CW from anywhere in the world without running into issues.
The best VPNs to watch The CW
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
Special Offer for you!
Get 3 extra months free when you sign up for a 12-month ExpressVPN plan. That’s 15 months in total for the price of 12.
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. 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
Special Offer for you!
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).
Special Offer – Save 83%
(30-day money-back guarantee)
3. 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
Special Offer for you!
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.
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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
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for Ivacy and enjoy a 7-day trial with no strings attached
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.
Special Offer – 7-day FREE trial!
(30-day money-back guarantee)
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
SPECIAL OFFER – 1-DAY FREE TRIAL
Take advantage of CyberGhost’s 1-day FREE TRIAL!
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.
SPECIAL OFFER – 1-DAY FREE TRIAL
(30-day money-back guarantee)
Is watching The CW with a VPN legal?
Yes, using a VPN to watch streaming services like The CW is perfectly legal. That is unless you’re in a country where VPNs are banned.
The good news is there’s only a handful of countries where VPNs are restricted or prohibited, these are China, Russia, Iran, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, North Korea, Iraq, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Egypt, Eritrea, Seychelles, Suriname, Namibia, Slovenia, Nicaragua and Tajikistan.
With that said, using a VPN to watch The CW in a location where it isn’t officially supported, does go against the streaming service’s terms and conditions.
What this means is although it is legal to access The CW with a VPN, it does go against the streaming service’s terms of service and The CW is within its rights to block or ban your account for doing so.
However, given the wide-spread use of VPNs, plus the many legitimate and legal use cases for VPNs, it’s fair to suggest that banning customers for using a VPN would be an extremely costly policy for The CW to enforce.
In theory, if you’re trying to watch The CW in a region where it does not traditionally operate, you risk having your account banned. However, as the best VPNs use military-grade encryption, it’s impossible for streaming services to trace where you’re physically accessing its content from.
There’s one final thing to note on the subject: The CW has never banned anyone for using a VPN to access its service.
For more information you can check out our article answering Is streaming with a VPN legal?
What is The CW?
The CW is a US-based television network created as a joint venture between CBS and WarnerMedia.
The streaming service targets viewers between the ages of 18-34, and features shows such as Friends, Scrubs, Arrow, Smallville, The Flash and a lot more.
The CW includes both acquired programming and original programming with its service.
How much does The CW cost?
The CW is free on demand. No subscriptions, all you need to do is download the app.
