The fact that everybody needs to face (at least until China dominates the entertainment business as well) is that the United States of America currently has the best TV content in the whole wide world.
That holds true at least for the people who live in the United States of America and speak English.
As a US citizen, one of the hardest challenges that a person has to overcome is having access to decent and American TV shows while traveling.
Our research shows that having access to American content is pretty much limited even in places such as the United Kingdom.
So just because a person is in an English speaking country does not mean that he/she would automatically have access to the greatest and the latest American TV has to offer.
The situation is very limiting.
Most of the places in the world that do get US TV series and other shows are usually one season (at the least) behind the latest American release.
And that is assuming that such places get American content at all.
Of course, that does not change the fact that American TV content and other forms of entertainment are exported in each and every corner of the world except for, perhaps, China, Russia, Turkey, and Iran.
However, the problem with the American content available in those countries is that distributors and other involved folks dub over the English audio with their own foreign languages (that is, foreign for Americans).
This is the reason why we think that users who do not have a desire to lipread all the reruns, will have to tool up as a necessity rather than anything else.
The fortunate part of the whole situation is that almost all of United States TV stations have this tendency to put all of their premium content on places such as the internet.
This means that users have the opportunity to watch various live TV channels such as ABC and/or CBS.
They can even browse those on-demand high-quality video libraries from various online streaming sites such as
- Hulu
- HBO
- Sling TV
- Amazon Prime Video
- Netflix
Now comes the unfortunate part.
Almost all, if not literally all, streaming channels based in the United States of America block access to their content for all internet users who are not located in the US.
In other words, if the reader on this post is outside the US, even if he/she is a US citizen and has gone out of the country for work or vacation and still has a desire to access his/her favorite TV shows then he/she can’t do it.
Simple as that.
Unless, that online consumer knows how to actually get deploy the technology that is needed in order to keep that high-quality American entertainment steadily flowing.
Now, the best tool to actually get past all those restrictions (in our recommendation) is to make use of a VPN service.
Users who want to know everything there is to know about how to watch Hulu in China and/or even how to watch US Netflix in France, should keep reading because we have got plenty of juicy stuff coming ahead.
So first, let’s talk about what is a VPN service.
A VPN stands for Virtual Private Network.
Readers who do not know what that means should know that a person does not need a degree in IT to make use of a VPN service.
We’ll admit that the involved supporting technology is slightly more complicated however all that the users need to know is that when they install a VPN service, they will appear to come from a different country to all the services, apps, and websites on the internet.
Now, we have finally come to a point in time where the VPN market is almost flooded with VPN services.
In other words, users have a lot of options to choose from.
However, our research shows that only a few handfuls of VPN services have what it takes to bypass various geographic restrictions and also unblock all the latest US TV series.
Before we actually get to the list of the very best VPN services for US expats in order for them to watch US TV abroad, we would like to mention the criteria on which we based our list of best VPNs to watch US TV.
Whenever we are ranking VPN services for purposes such as streaming, we always look for the ones that have the VPN servers that deliver high speeds for HD streaming and other such high-bandwidth-consuming online activities.
VPN services should also have location cloaking features.
Apart from that, we also give weight to VPN services that can unblock US Netflix.
We along with every other review site consider US Netflix’s library is the best of the bunch.
However, we usually want more from the VPN services that want to end up on our list.
Leaving aside the ability to unblock US Netflix, any VPN service should have enough about it to offer a multiple number of US locations in order to enable users to dodge various sports blackouts.
Any VPN service should offer users a strong set of security measures for proper use in all the countries that have repressive regimes.
With that out of the way, here is Security Gladiator’s list of the very best VPNs for US expats to watch US TV outside US.
Table of Contents
IPVanish
This VPN service has based its operations in the United States of America.
Moreover, it also offers users greet speeds to form VPN connections to different locations in the United States of America from any place in the world.
If a user intends to stream HD video either from back home or any other place, then he/she should consider speed as the most essential factor which he/she would need from a given VPN service.
IPVanish has the ability to unlock all US TV channels that offer web services on the internet except for US Netflix.
For US Netflix, we recommend that users should go with NordVPN.
But IPVanish is better than NordVPN in the sense that it is slightly faster and works with all Kodi add-ons.
Update: some reports on the internet are saying that IPVanish has started to work with US Netflix. We will need time to ensure that it isn’t just a one-day coincidence.
Regardless of the fact if IPVanish works with US Netflix or not, NordVPN is still the VPN service to beat when it comes to US Netflix.
With IPVanish users have the option of selecting a good number of city locations within the United States of America when they are connected to the company’s VPN client.
In total, IPVanish offers all of its users a total of 418 VPN servers located in the United States of America which are then spread even more across a total of 17 US cities.
Users who are into playing all sorts of online games while they are abroad, should consider IPVanish as their number one choice of VPN service.
Why do we say that?
Allow us to explain briefly.
The thing is, IPVanish has VPN servers located pretty close to almost all of the major game servers which are based in the United States of America.
What does that mean for the end user?
For the end user, that means, almost always, low latency rates.
To take an example, IPVanish has a total of 41 VPN servers in Seattle.
This is extremely close to the West Coast base of Steam.
Not only that but IPVanish also has 42 VPN servers based in Ashburn.
That is just a short couple of kilometers away from the East Coast HQ of Steam.
The other great thing about IPVanish is that it operates a proper IP address system which is dynamic in the real sense.
What does that mean for the end user?
For the end user, it means that when the user connects to a given VPN server, the VPN service allocates him/her a totally new IP address which represents the user for the remaining duration of the user’s session.
Needless to say, as long as the user is connected to the network, he/she is the only person that is using that IP address.
However, whenever the user disconnects from the server, that IP address actually goes back into the official pool of IP addresses and then someone else gets the opportunity to use that IP address.
Moreover, with IPVanish, the company never allocates the same IP address twice.
IPVanish is perhaps one of the few VPN service providers that makes use of the protection that OpenVPN VPN protocol offers.
How does the company implement that?
It implements the OpenVPN protocol with a strong 256-bit AES cipher in order to protect user data.
Moreover, it carries out the task of establishing a session with the excellent 2048-bit RSA cipher.
As far as apps for different operating systems are concerned, IPVanish offers apps for,
- Android
- iOS
- macOS
- Windows
In fact, the IPVanish VPN service can even run on devices such as Amazon Fire.
However, the user has to go through the whole setup manually.
IPVanish also allows users to connect up to five simultaneous devices with the help of just one user account.
In the end, it also offers all users a seven-day official money-back guarantee.
to get a huge discount on the default IPVanish subscription package right now.Click here to read out full IPVanish review.
ExpressVPN
Many consider ExpressVPN as the very best VPN service for streaming video content via online services over the internet.
And there are many reasons why security experts regard it as such.
Our research shows that ExpressVPN has the ability to unblock US Netflix even when the user is overseas.
Using the same VPN service users can also access all other types of content on various other TV networks.
In fact, our research shows that ExpressVPN can show users content from all the mainstream and major US TV channels.
Now, the thing readers need to understand is that not each and every ExpressVPN US VPN server actually works with each and every US streaming service and/or outlet.
This is the reason why we suggest to ExpressVPN users to make sure that they are clear on which of the ExpressVPN servers they should use with a given particular service via the 24/7 live chat customer support.
Now, some of our readers might notice that ExpressVPN charges users a bit more than the average VPN service.
However, we think that over-pricing is reasonable.
Why?
Because any user who is traveling to places such as Iran or China will want to have a VPN service that has advanced cloaking methods and extra-strong encryption.
Readers need to understand that Iran and China, both, have advanced censorship measures which can stop most mainstream VPN services.
As it turns out, that is also the reason why there are very few VPN services that offer consistent and sufficient online protection in countries such as China.
So for people who are traveling to places, such as China and/or Iran, ExpressVPN is the VPN service that will pay for itself in the long term.
In other words, it is worth pretty much every cent.
The other thing users have to consider is the authority in China.
Or should we say authorities in China?
The government in China is very regular when it comes to scanning internet traffic.
Their main aim is to try and block all connections that have VPN connection.
However, Express VPN is able to consistently stay a step ahead of these authorities.
Readers also need to think about the different situations they might find themselves in.
For example, let’s say the user has subscribed to a sports channel that is broadcasted in the US.
In that case, it is extremely important for the user to have a good choice of US locations through which he/she can connect through.
VPN services such as ExpressVPN let users select a city and not just a single country.
This is very useful for the user who is looking to connect to a service in a very specific location.
ExpressVPN has VPN servers located in over 18 cities in the US.
These locations include the likes of Los Angeles and others which route directly through Hong Kong.
ExpressVPN offers applications for all major platforms such as,
- Various different WiFi routers
- Kindle Fire devices
- Linux
- Android
- iOS
- macOS
- Windows
Of course, there is always a chance that the user has a device that is incapable of supporting VPN applications.
In that case, ExpressVPN subscribers have the option of using the company’s very own Media Streamer service which is actually a smart DNS service.
Users can take advantage of this service to unlock premium content.
However, smart DNS services act without any security that comes pre-built with a VPN service.
Apart from that, ExpressVPN also offers all its customers a no-questions-asked 30-day official money-back guarantee.
Click here to read our full ExpressVPN review.
NordVPN
We consider NordVPN another great VPN choice for users who want to use a VPN service from a country that has strict government policies and controls on general internet access.
Our research shows that NordVPN works pretty well in countries such as China.
Moreover, it can help users to get the most number of US TV networks via nothing but the internet.
Apart from that, NordVPN can even allow users direct access to the US library of services such as Netflix even when they are abroad.
At the time of writing this report, NordVPN officially offered users a total of 1592 VPN servers based in the United States of America.
However, NordVPN does not allow users to specify the city in which they want to connect.
For the end user, it might mean that NordVPN may not be able to help them in the case of them getting trapped because of a blackout when they want to watch US TV channels or more specifically sports channels for events such as MLB.
With that out of the way, there is no doubt about the fact that NordVPN has some really interesting VPN security features on offer.
Users have the option of connecting to the official Tor network with the help of specialized NordVPN VPN servers.
Not only that, NordVPN, as a VPN company, also offers users the double hop routes.
These routes enable the user’s traffic to pass through a total of two servers which are both located in a different location and also places double encryption on the user’s VPN connection.
There is another feature that NordVPN offers whereby the user gets extra protection against DDoS.
This is especially beneficial for users who spend a lot of their online time playing games.
As most know by now that DDoS launching hacking teams just love to hit online gamers when they are enjoying their own battles on their big screens.
NordVPN also offers some extra features.
One such feature is the user’s ability to select for himself/herself his/her own dedicated Ip address.
What does that mean for the end user?
For the end user that means, whenever the user wants to connect to the NordVPN service and wherever the user wants to connect to NordVPN from, the company will make sure that it represents the user with the help of the same substitute Internet Protocol, IP, address out on the wider world of the internet.
At the time of writing this guide, NordVPN, as a company, offers users dedicated IP addresses in a total of four different locations.
In order to have access to various United States sites, the user actually needs to ask the company for a server that works on dedicated IP address from places such as Buffalo.
When any VPN service provides users with a dedicated IP address it essentially enables the user to run his own exclusive media server.
Examples of such servers include the Plex Server.
As it turns out, that also means the user has the ability to store movies along with documents back home.
Not only that, the user also has the option of accessing all such documents and movies from a mobile device that has great storage limitation especially when the user is abroad.
NordVPN makes use of OpenVPN as its primary security method.
Similar to IPVanish, NordVPN implements the OpenVPN protocol by making use of AES encryption along with a 256-bit key in order to protect user data.
Apart from that, NordVPN establishes the user session and protects it with the help of a RSA encryption and a 2048-bit encryption key.
At the time of writing this guide, NordVPN allowed users to download and then install its official VPN app on platforms such as,
- iOS
- Android
- macOS
- Mac OS X
- Windows
NordVPN allows users to install the company system manually on computers running Linux.
Users can use NordVPN various WiFi routers as well as set-top boxes.
Moreover, users who only want to sign up for a VPN service because they want premium coverage for their browser only should thank NordVPN for offering users the official extensions for mainstream browsers such as Mozilla Firefox as well as Google Chrome.
NordVPN, as a premium VPN company, provides users with the option of connecting up to six simultaneous VPN connection for each of its customers.
The VPN service also provides all customers with a total of 30-day official money-back guarantee.
to sign up for NordVPN’s massive 2 year deal with discounts up to 65 percent.Click here if you want to read more about the new NordVPN service.
CyberGhost
This VPN service is known for offering users decent speeds for all types of activities including streaming and others.
In fact, CyberGhost VPN allows users to preset the company’s VPN client right at the beginning of any given session in order to optimize the connection for watching various online videos.
The CyberGhost VPN system has the capability to get around all the blocks that prevent user access to most US TV channels.
This means, if the user has subscribed to a VPN service like CyberGhost then the user can view content from all the official websites of US TV channels as well as other streaming services such as US Netflix and others.
CyberGhost VPN as a company runs over 204 VPN servers in the United States of America alone.
Not only that, these VPN servers are located in a total of 19 cities.
CyberGhost VPN is very thorough when it comes to taking security measures.
Perhaps that thoroughness is the reason why the VPN service has some excellent security tools.
Apart from that, the company provides users with some extra features at no additional cost to its online customers.
We’re talking about features such as the immunizer which works against attacks we call as ransomware.
Just like NordVPN and IPVanish, CyberGhost VPN also makes use of the official OpenVPN protocol.
The other notable thing about CyberGhost VPN is that it employs some pretty strong encryption for session establishment.
More specifically, CyberGhost VPN gives the service’s RSA cipher a full 4096-bit key.
The company also makes sure that it is able to protect data exchanges via AES encryption with a solid 256-bit encryption key.
Cyberghost has designed its account management procedures in order to provide the user with total and absolute anonymity.
In other words, the company plays no part in collecting any of the customer payments itself.
The company only identifies customers on its CyberGhost computer machines with the help of an account number.
CyberGhost, as a company, only knows the actual date that the user’s account would expire on.
Customers who want to subscribe to CyberGhost VPN for another period usually have to load up their CyberGhost account with a bit of more credit.
And they have to do it at the related payment processing service.
Users who want even more online privacy can always opt to pay CyberGhost VPN with Bitcoin.
Paying with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin would mean that no one can trace the user through his/her bank account.
As far as apps for different platforms go, CyberGhost offers users apps for,
- Android
- iOS
- Mac OS
- Mac OS X
- Windows
Users have the option of setting up the VPN client manually on their Linux stations.
CyberGhost also supports some WiFi routers and set-top TV boxes.
The company allows users to connect to its VPN services a total of five times concurrently.
Our research shows that CyberGhost VPN offers users a stylish software application.
Moreover, the company looks pretty confident that the customers would enjoy using the company software application so much that it offers all of them an official and 30-day-long money-back guarantee.
Users who are lucky enough can qualify for discounts up to 70 percent on the company’s 2-year package.
Click here to read out CyberGhost review.
PrivateVPN
PrivateVPN also happens to be a pretty good option when it comes to streaming video content from US TV channels when abroad in any overseas location.
This VPN company provides users with international connections that are able to achieve good speeds and it has the tools necessary for users to get around all the regional restrictions that most of the US TV channels put up on their official websites.
PrivateVPN can easily unblock US Netflix for users.
Not only does PrivateVPN enable users to watch US Netflix outside US but it also allows users to watch Netflix libraries for countries such as,
- France
- Italy
- Brazil
- Spain
- Japan
- Canada
- United Kingdom
PrivateVPN operations are based out of Sweden.
Our research shows that all of the company’s support staff speak terrific English.
Hence customers won’t face problems regarding language skills when they require help from PrivateVPN customer support team in solving their problems.
PrivateVPN has a Help Desk which is actually one of the company’s strong points.
However, actual customer support is only available to users during business hours in Sweden.
Users who do not consider themselves as tech-savvy can allow the support technician from the company actually take control of their computer machine and then fix the problem for them so that they are able to connect to the internet with a VPN service in place.
PrivateVPN has another strong point as well.
And that strong point comes in the form of the company’s commitment to online privacy.
Some readers may not know that some torrenting enthusiasts actually founded the company a while back.
Moreover, those same founders still carry out campaigns against any and all European laws which make attempts to trace online users and/or block all downloading activities.
This online VPN service does not log any information on its users.
Moreover, a third-party service processes all the payments.
The only way PrivateVPN identifies a given user on its system is with an account number.
Now let’s talk about the company’s server network.
First off, it is not as big as some of the server networks that a lot of other VPN service providers offer who have made it to this list.
With that said, PrivateVPN provides users with VPN servers that are located in a total of nine cities in the United States of America.
Each and every single one of the locations offers the user the option to connect to the server in question via OpenVPN.
With that said, the company itself recommends customers who are in China and want to connect to the internet in China to opt for the officially-offered L2TP VPN system.
Why?
Because the company’s OpenVPN connections do not work in China.
The government is able to spot them and then block them pretty easily.
As far as the number of simultaneous connections goes, PrivateVPN offers each of its customers a total of six.
Not only that, the company provides dedicated applications for platforms such as,
- iOS
- Android
- macOS
- Mac OS X
- Windows
In fact, our research shows that users should not have a problem in installing the PrivateVPN VPN client on devices such as Amazon Fire and machines running the Linux operating system.
Users can, if they have the knowledge, even manually set up PrivateVPN on wifi routers and set-top boxes.
There is also an official 30-day official money-back guarantee which enables users to try out the VPN service totally devoid of any risk.
Click here to read out full PrivateVPN review.
If the user is lucky enough, he/she may qualify for a total of five months of free VPN service with the company’s one-year plan.
Sometimes, the company tops that up with a 70 percent discount as well.
Video access restrictions in the United States of America for online reviewers
There is little doubt about the fact that having the option of accessing online TV over the internet is great.
However, there are those premium entertainment services and systems including the likes of Amazon Prime and Netflix, do not concern themselves with providing offline services.
Instead of doing that, they only offer their services over the internet.
All seems terrific until one sees that these online services don’t offer their services to just anyone with a laptop and an internet connection.
There are those other websites and streaming services that require the user to sign up for a package before they even let these people access the service’s premium content.
With that said, the truth is that the payment problem is not the only problem that viewers have to face when they want to stream content online.
Instead of that, streaming services make it harder for users to watch any content.
The way they do that is by increasing the requirements for watching online content.
Now, online users do not just need a credit card to watch anything and everything they want to watch.
Now, streaming services require the user to have the right location in order to watch their content.
Strange right?
Definitely.
So if a user is traveling the country on a vacation to places such as Miami and/or Hawaii, then he/she would probably not notice any of those access controls.
Why is that/
That is because the content restrictions these streaming services put up to deny access to their video streams to only those users who are outside the national boundaries.
These are the people that these streaming services want to enforce their restrictions on.
So if a US citizen decides that he/she wants to travel the world, then he/she would suddenly find that the majority of those video streaming websites and service that he/she had gotten used to at home simply have stopped working.
For some people that is highly irritating especially if they are trying hard to have access to their streaming service that they have already paid for.
The community calls all such video access controls as geolocation restrictions and/or regional restrictions.
We don’t know of a single bona fide online video streaming service that does not use of this method of video access control.
What does that mean for the end user?
It means that we simply can’t blame the online streaming services based in the US.
Because they are not the only ones that limit video access to certain people who are located in a certain country.
Our research shows that almost all online streaming services in all other countries make use of some form of video access control.
The only content sites that do not make use of geo-restrictions are pirate sites.
How do websites locate me?
The thing readers need to understand here is that each and every device that is connected to the internet in the modern age must have an address.
A unique address.
This address is what the community calls the machine’s IP address.
In the vast majority of the residential areas, the IP addresses are allocated to various computers, machines and mobile devices by their relevant internet service providers.
This means that each and every given IP address on earth can potentially be used to trace directly to a location in the real physical world.
Now, readers should also understand that the IP address that their machine is currently using probably, not really, registered to their actual home address.
However, the user’s internet service provider would have definitely registered the IP address to its name.
In other words, the current IP address of the user’s machine would definitely be locatable to the user’s city.
For users who live in the rural areas and/or countryside, their machine’s IP addresses would be accurately traceable only to the closest urban and/or major city.
Now, that means no one can trace a given user directly to the user’s doorstep via the online video services that the user may have accessed.
However, the nearest given city has the potential giving the online video streaming service’s server sufficient information for it to decide if the user is from a location that the company does not like and hence block the machine from receiving any video stream.
In other words, if the user tries to access the official ABC website from his/her residence in a place like Miami, then the official ABC website would have no problems in letting in the user and allowing him/her to browse whatever shows that it is offering via its video library.
When the user performs a click on any show in order to stream it, the ABC website would immediately load a video player and then the content server would move forward to look at the user’s IP address.
Once the content server has ensured that the user is indeed in Miami, it would load the content video.
In another example, if the user traveled to Paris and then tried to access the ABC website from Paris, then the user would have to connect to the official ABC website from a different IP address.
This different IP address would be allocated to the user via a French internet service provider.
Not only that, but the user will also have the opportunity to browse throw the entire library of the official ABC website.
As before, when the user would click on a given TV show, the user would see a page which would show the user the site’s video player.
Great right?
However, this time around, that same content server would check the user’s physical location again.
And once it does, it would automatically discover that the user’s real location is somewhere in Paris.
So instead of actually loading the ABC premium content video stream into the shown video player on the user’s screen, the content server would simply do away with an error message.
Now, our research shows that in the majority of the cases, the geo-restrictions or the regional restrictions would actually kick in right at the exact moment of the content server actually delivering the video.
All online premium streaming services such as Spotify and/or Amazon Prime only allow users to utilize their online service if they come from the country where they signed up for the service.
So, for example, if the user is not present in the country from which he/she signed up, then the user cannot watch any kind of videos.
As for streaming services such as Netflix, they are a bit different.
Why?
Because they allow users to watch their online streaming service from the country that they are in at the moment and the country of subscription does not matter.
The other thing readers should notice about Netflix is that the online streaming service has a single web address which is Netflix.com.
So whenever a user tries to access Netflix.com, the content server at the company is able to detect the user’s physical location and then it moves forward to deliver the user the video library which the company has made up for that specific country.
As most of our readers can probably imagine, Netflix has a very complex and sophisticated streaming system.
Why do we say that?
We say that because users must have an official Netflix account if they want to access the service’s content system.
So when the user logs in to Netflix, the official Netflix website would display all of its content in the language of the user’s country.
Which country is that again?
That country would be from where the user signed up.
In other words, Netflix would show all of the videos and other content in its library in the user’s native language.
At this point, some readers may come to the conclusion that they managed to access US Netflix from abroad.
As mentioned before however, when the user would try to browse the Netflix library, he/she would come to know that the majority of the Netflix content that they could access when they were at their home country would no longer be available to them.
Perhaps this is a good time to mention that US Netflix actually checks on the user’s physical location twice.
When does it do that?
Well, first it checks the user’s location when the user tries to logs into the system to enable it to present him/her the library which Netflix permits in his/her location.
And then Netflix checks the user’s location again slightly before the company’s content server is about to load the user-selected video.
How can VPN services help me watch US TV from anywhere?
It works like this.
When the user logs into his/her VPN account via the official VPN app, the user has to select a specific VPN server from the given list.
The server list would usually show the physical location of each of the VPN servers.
When the user clicks on a specific server, the VPN client software application which the user has installed on his/her computer machine tries to establish a pretty secure link to the VPN service’s remote computer.
After that, all of the user’s internet traffic that leaves the user’s computer and then returns to it would show that the user is communicating not with his/her original physical IP address but the IP address of the user’s chosen VPN server.
Such an arrangement is pretty useful for users who are in a restrictive country like Iran or China which try to block citizens and other people who live within their borders to have any kind of access to particular websites outside their region of control.
Readers need to understand that as far as this stretch is concerned, no one in the world would see that the user has connected to the internet with the help of a VPN server to various other addresses.
In other words, the VPN service would successfully encrypt all of the user’s traffic between the user’s computer machine and the VPN server.
The VPN would even hide the IP address of the service that the user is desperately trying hard to connect to.
So, again, no one in the world can make any efforts to read the user’s online activities.
No hacker or internet service provider or government agency can get in and observe what the user is doing or who the user is trying to communicate with.
When the user connects to a United States-based video streaming service while he/she is abroad, the user must choose a VPN server which is located in the United States of America.
Once the user selects a video to stream and the request for that video actually arrives at the service’s VPN server located in the US, the VPN service would move forward to remove the applied encryption and would then send the user’s request onto the online streaming service’s video server from the VPN server’s own IP address.
This way, when the online streaming site’s video content server tries to check on the user’s location, the content server see would see nothing but the US IP address of the VPN server.
In other words, it would not see the location of the user.
Or at least, not the current location of the user (which could be Paris or anything else, to take an example).
That Us location would also mean that the user gets permission to stream the online video and because of that, the service’s content server would send the correct code for the online stream straight back to the VPN service’s server.
Again, the VPN server would encrypt all the data that it would receive and would then move to send that data to the user’s computer machine.
And again, no one in the world would have the opportunity to spy on the user’s internet traffic and see that a VPN server has sent a video to the user’s computer.
Moreover, they also would not be able to tell from where the data is coming from.
Apart from that, readers should know that the VPN client app/software on the user’s computer system would capture all the incoming data and would then decrypt it and would then send it to the user’s video player.
Is a paid VPN the best solution for US video streaming?
As most of our readers would understand by now, online video streaming services make use of some very sophisticated location detection methods.
In other words, a cheap and/or free VPN service simply would not have enough resources (money, experience, manpower among many other things) to invest in a system that would beat the detection system of these online streaming services on a consistent basis.
To put it in simpler terms, the user may come across a lot of free VPN services out there in the market.
However, these free VPN services are highly unlikely to the help the user to watch US TV from anywhere even when the user is abroad.
There is one other issue that users need to take into account whenever they are trying to select a good VPN service for international high-quality video streaming.
And that issue is speed.
All those processes of encryption and then decryption and then traffic diversion must and do add a decent delay to the actual delivery of the user-selected video content.
This is where the user would find that free VPN services do not really have any kind of fast VPN servers.
Why is that?
Well, because similar to internet service providers, these free VPN service providers also have a pay a carrying network some fees in order to get their (or the user’s depending on how you look at it) traffic from one place to another across the map.
All the intermediate networks that free VPN services would have to access probably have various different levels of online service.
The higher the quality of the service, the higher the tariff for using it.
This is how VPN services offer faster connections.
Forget about free VPN services, even cheap VPN services that try to cut their costs via various means usually resort to opting for cheaper and slower VPN connection services.
As some readers can already imagine, this may affect the delivery process of the user-selected video content.
And the user may see a lot of buffering.
Video content servers are also good enough to perform various location checks with which they try to really root out all those requests that a VPN service/services may have submitted.
Video streaming services have an obligation to do this because they have to abide by the rules and restrict their premium content to certain people who are currently located in certain countries.
And because they want to save their own skin first, streaming services have no option but to take any and all available security measures in order to properly enforce that content restriction.
Some of the measures include blocking and banning users who take the assistance of VPN services.
But why do online entertainment providers like to ruin all the fun and implement geo-restrictions?
Why do they do it?
Do they not want more worldwide customers?
Do they not want more view time?
Do they not want more popularity and not just in the US?
Well, it turns out, online entertainment services have to do this because various contracts bound them to do so.
Online entertainment services have to sign various contracts with the producers of the content that they are providing to users.
To take an example, if a media outlet like ABC has a desire to show some TV series or a movie, then it goes to the market and only purchases rights to show the movie in the United States of America.
Then, there would come another media company which would purchase the broadcasting rights to the same TV series or a movie in France (similarly in China).
Broadcasting giants like BBC may purchase rights for that same TV series or movie for the United Kingdom.
So if the user is located in the United Kingdom and a media company like ABC allows such a user to watch the move for which it purchased the rights from the company’s own server, then the law would consider ABC infringing on the licensing rights of BBC.
This is the reason why whenever the streaming service’s content server is getting ready to load the user-selected video directly into the shown web player, it never forgets to check to make sure where the user who made the request for the premium video content is located (or where the request came from).
It also tries its best to ensure that the user did not involve a VPN service to make the video request.
However, if the content server detects that the user made use of a VPN service to make the request, then it would move forward to post an error message.
And instead of the user seeing his/her request video, he/she would see an error message.
Naturally, some streaming services have better and stronger VPN/location checks than others.
Streaming services such as NBC don’t seem to put in a lot of resources and/or effort in order to root out various VPN services.
However, Netflix and ABC both have extremely thorough and roughened VPN detection tools and methods.
There are only a few VPN services in the world that have the ability to get the user into such online video streaming services in the US.
The user should also notice that our list of best VPNs to watch US TV from anywhere in the world, does include some VPN services that do not work with US Netflix outside US.
This should show the reader how hard it really is for VPN services to bypass geo-restrictions and other VPN detection systems that streaming sites like Netflix have implemented.
So if a paid and premium VPN service can’t enable access to US TV channels and/or Netflix, then how can a free VPN do the same?
Conclusion
We tell users to travel the wide and open world.
Experience cultures.
Eat different foods.
Meat different people.
Take work opportunities and make the most of their trips abroad.
But sometimes, one simply can’t help being alone abroad.
Sometimes, users find themselves in countries where not a single person speaks their native language.
That also means that the user’s time-tested baseball jokes don’t really work and rather fall flat.
We fully understand why users want to watch US TV abroad.
It is because users want to keep in touch with every event that is happening back home.
Moreover, users want to feel the comfort of having the ability to watch US TV in their own language.
Such benefits can really help some users remedy the very real sense of loneliness and isolation that one can feel once one goes and lives abroad.
Moreover, it is simply annoying that various online video streaming services simply do not allow people to watch US TV abroad.
However, we have to understand the other side as well.
Online streaming sites have some genuine legal contracts to abide by.
That along with many other reasons is why streaming services block VPN services.
Streaming services don’t really want to be needlessly cruel.
Users who are abroad only for a short amount of time should know that generally speaking it is not actually worth it to cancel their home TV subscription package.
They should not cancel their Amazon Prime and/or Netflix subscriptions either.
However, if the user is away for a decent amount of time, and also paying for all the online services without ever getting around to use them, then that is a problem.
It is a problem that VPN services can solve very quickly.
Readers also need to keep in mind that online TV services do make use of some really complicated technology to become successful at blocking VPN activity after checking for the actual origins of the user-selected video requests.
As mentioned before as well, there are a very low number of VPN services that are worth the money and the subscribe.
Why?
Again, because most of them do not enable the user to watch US TV from anywhere.
If the user is out of the country and wants to watch US TV channels then we suggest users stick with the options that we have described above.
Users who are traveling to countries that have previously criminalized access to specific websites and then try to watch US TV from there may actually find themselves facing some legal trouble.
Countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran have essentially classified shows such as Game of Thrones are pornography (maybe they did the right thing here?).
Regardless, both these countries now legally impose some really severe state punishments on any user who is found to have actually watched any banned content.
There are tons of other countries that have invested pretty heavily in other detection technologies in order to monitor all of the users’ internet activities among other things within their own borders.
Hence, users who do not make use of a VPN service to protect their online connections are really exposing themselves to a lot of online harm in every sense of the word.
We advise that users should stay safe whenever they are traveling abroad and retain complete access to a VPN service in order to watch US TV from anywhere in the world.
I absolutely agree with your recommendation to use Nordvpn for Netflix. I am always streaming it from different countries in the world with full access to all the films and my favorite shows (Black Mirror, Stranger Things and Game of Thrones). I didn’t experience any internet speed issues yet and that is the biggest advantage for me.
Thanks for the comment Darja buddy.
Glad to hear NordVPN is working out for you.
It is the best VPN for Netflix at the moment.