If you are trying to watch Crave TV outside of Canada, you will run into an error that says “we’re sorry, this content is only available for viewing in Canada.” When this error appears, you will not be able to stream any content on the platform.
This is a pain, especially if you are already a Crave subscriber and are away on holiday or have relocated.
But don’t panic, in this article, I will explain how to fix this problem and show you how you can watch Crave TV outside of Canada and anywhere in the world
See Also:
- How to watch CBC Gem outside of Canada
- How to watch British TV in Canada
- Betfair not working with your VPN? There’s a simple fix!
Watch Crave outside Canada: Quick Fix
To fix this problem, you need to purchase a VPN that is compatible with Crave. I recommend ExpressVPN ($6.67/month)
Total Time: 2 minutes
Create a new account with ExpressVPN ($6.67/month)
Download and install the new VPN app
Connect to a server in Canada
Stream Crave content wherever you are
What is Crave?
Crave is a Canadian subscription video on demand service owned by Bell Media.
With Crave you can enjoy Crave Originals, and series from Showtime and HBO.
A subscription to Crave starts at $9.99 a month and it currently has over 2.9 million users.
Why won’t Crave work outside Canada?
Like most streaming services (Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Disney+, and more), Crave is a geo-restricted streaming service. Geo-restricted means that the service is only specific in a particular country or countries, in Crave’s case, Canada.
When you try and watch Crave outside of Canada you will run into the “we’re sorry, this content is only available for viewing in Canada,” error. This is coming up because Crave has identified that you are connecting to the service from outside of its broadcasting zone.
Even though Crave is filled with TV shows and films from US-based services like HBO Max, Showtime and STARZ, Crave does not have the rights to broadcast these shows outside of Canada.
The content from HBO Max, Showtime and STARZ has been purchased and licensed to Crave to be broadcast in Canada. Crave is subject to its licences and therefore it doesn’t allow customers to stream its content outside of its Canadian broadcasting zone.
How does Crave block me from streaming its content outside Canada?
Whenever you connect to the internet, you are given an IP address. These IP addresses are very similar to landline phone codes in that they provide specific information about your location.
Crave can scan your IP address and verify if you are in Canada or not. If it finds that you aren’t in Canada, Crave will block you from accessing its content.
To get around these blocks, you need to change your IP address. Fortunately, a VPN will allow you to do this.
What is a VPN?
A VPN is a network of servers that allows you to hide where you connect to the internet.
They work by rerouting all of your internet data through the VPN’s servers. During this process, the VPN will encrypt your data and send it to an IP address in a location of your choosing. Once the encrypted data is here, it is unencrypted and relayed to a local internet service provider.
It all sounds very complicated, but the combination of the encryption and the global network of servers means that you can achieve an anonymous internet connection. Your location will be hidden when you connect to the internet, and you can browse the web from a “virtual” location of your choice.
A VPN is how you can trick Crave into thinking you are trying to access its platform from within Canada. A VPN allows you to watch Crave from anywhere in the world.
Does Crave block VPNs?
The short answer is yes. Crave is continuously trying to protect its broadcasting rights by blacklisting VPNs from streaming its content. It does this in three ways.
- Crave monitors for IP, DNS and WebRTC leaks. This is a simple test meaning your IP address will be identified and blacklisted from viewing content abroad.
- There are GeoIP databases that collect IP address information. If your VPN uses an IP address on one of these databases, your connection will be blocked from viewing Crave content abroad.
- Crave will perform their own IP address checks. Many VPNs have more customers than they do servers, and because of this, some customers end up using the same IP addresses. Typically, only a household or a small office uses the same IP address. When Crave identifies hundreds or thousands of connections coming from the same IP address, it knows it is an IP address supplied by a VPN, and it blacklists it.
The good news is that these checks aren’t 100% successful. Lesser VPNs are likely to get tripped up by these checks however the best VPNs like ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) have techniques that make them reliable and able to get around these checks.
VPNs that work with Crave?
To reliably watch Crave outside of Canada, you need VPNs that play a cat and mouse game with Crave.
Lesser VPNs do not play this game, and they are more often than not blacklisted by Crave’s checks. The best VPNs like ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) do play this game.
Whenever Crave identifies and blacklists an IP address, ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) and Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) will close that IP address and open a new one. This ensures the VPN providers are one step ahead of Crave’s checks and provides a much better result for you. It will allow you to continuously and reliably stream Crave from anywhere in the world.
The best VPNs to watch Crave outside Canada
All the VPN providers in this list are compatible with Crave. They all play a cat and mouse game with Crave, meaning you can stream Crave reliably from anywhere in the world.
1. ExpressVPN 🥇
Why You Should Use ExpressVPN? It’s the fastest and MOST reliable VPN of 2022
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)
