If you’re overseas you will experience difficulty watching BT sport via the official app or website. But don’t worry, the workaround is pretty simple. Here we show you how to watch BT Sport abroad.
See also: BT Sport not working with VPN? Here’s a SIMPLE fix!
How to watch BT Sport abroad
Watching BT Sport from overseas is actually pretty straightforward – once you know what you’re doing – all you need is the right VPN. We recommend using ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or any of the VPNs listed below.
Once you have this, all you need to do is turn the VPN on (connecting to a server in the UK) and you’ll be able to watch BT Sport from anywhere in the world. It’s as simple as that.
- Download and install ExpressVPN ($6.67/month)
- Connect to a server in the UK
- Login to the BT Sport app or Website
- Watch BT Sport live
Why do I need a VPN to watch BT Sport?
BT Sport, like any broadcaster, is subject to its licences. This means it cannot broadcast live pictures to countries where it doesn’t own the broadcast rights. This is why you won’t be able to watch live sports, via the BT Sport app or website, when you’re in a foreign country. Unless you have a VPN.
The way BT Sport, or any internet service, detects a users location is via IP addresses. Using a VPN (with a UK server) will spoof your location/IP address and allow you to watch BT sport abroad.
BT Sport not working with your VPN?
This is a pretty common problem. And the solution is really easy. But first, let’s start with the reason why BT Sport isn’t working with your VPN.
BT Sport has been blocking certain VPNs for a few years. It does this right rights reasons – BT Sport can only broadcast in the UK, so needs to protect its borders. The way it detects and blocks VPNs is pretty simple. It uses the same technique BBC iPlayer and Netflix does.
It all comes down to the IP address you’re connecting to BT Sport from. The average UK household’s IP address will support, on average, less than 10 simultaneous internet connections. And within these 10 connections, there will likely be only one account accessing BT Sport at any given time.
Things are a little different with VPN IP addresses. And a low-quality VPN server could support thousands on simultaneous internet connections. Which makes them really easy to spot. Especially if BT Sport notices several (or hundreds of…) different users logging in from the same IP address.
Which is why we recommend ExpressVPN ($6.67/month), or Ivacy ($1.16/month). But from our tests, NordVPN is the fastest. Subscribing to a good VPN will also let you stream BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4, Sky Go and US Netflix, from anywhere in the world. NordVPN is committed to unblocking popular streaming sites and employs a full-time technical team to monitor its servers connections. And in the current climate, where broadcasters are actively blocking VPNs, this gives NordVPN a competitive edge.
I’ve been using ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) to stream UK content since May 2018 and haven’t had any problems.
Which VPNs work with BT Sport?
Unfortunately, not all VPNs will work with BT Sport. This, as we mentioned above, is because BT Sport as got really good at blocking VPNs that allow too many customers to connect via the same IP addresses. Below, I’ve listed three of the best VPNs for watching BT Sport from overseas. All of the services below offer fast speeds, secure connections and, importantly, servers that work with BT Sport.
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
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.
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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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iOS/Android users
Watching BT Sport abroad on a mobile device is sometimes a little trickier. This is because the BT Sport app periodically requires access to location services to verify where you’re connecting from. It’s not a big problem though. You just to get the Fake GPS app. This is easy to download from Google Play or the App Store, just search for Fake GPS and go from there.
BT Sport: This content is only available to viewers in the UK
If you’re already using a VPN and you see the error message “This content is only available to viewers in the UK” then its bad news. It means your VPN provider’s IP address has been blacklisted by BT Sport. This is pretty common with broadcasters as they’ve been clamping on VPNs since 2016 (due to licensing reasons).
The way a BT Sport identifies and blocks a VPNs IP is simple. This is because VPNs funnel all their users through a handful of servers. This creates (potentially) thousands of customers streaming content from the VPN’s shared IP address.
To combat the use of VPNs. BT Sport (and other broadcasters) now monitor IP addresses for abnormal activity. When a large number of simultaneous connections come from the same IP – more than an average household – BT that address and prevents it from streaming content. Which is why you’re seeing the error message above.
Luckily, there’s already a workaround in place. You need to buy a VPN with a dedicated IP address. This way, only you will be streaming BT Sport from the IP address, so you won’t download an abnormal amount of data (as a VPN isn’t sharing it with all of its customers).
See also: How to listen to TMS abroad.
Read next: BBC Detecting VPN? Here’s how to fix that!
