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How to Bypass Netflix VPN Ban – Best Ways

Are you guys looking for some ways to bypass the Netflix VPN ban? We have done the research for you. Start by explaining how Netflix blocks VPNs and then shows you our top choices to beat the geo-location ban from anywhere in the world.

But, you might have heard that Netflix offers different types of content in different countries. Although all users go through the same website, netflix.com. The content that they have access to varies depending on their location.

You will have noticed this if you have been traveling abroad and tried to watch something on Netflix. Then you might not be able to load the video. That you want because it is not available in the region you are in.

In places such as Germany, Spain, and Hong Kong, Netflix users cannot see the original Netflix programs (like House of Cards, such as).

Many Netflix users used a VPN to access content from other countries. If you lived in Germany but wanted to watch a show that was only available in the United States. You just had to fire up your VPN software, connect to a United States server. Then head to netflix.com and watch without problems.

Recently, though, this has stopped working for many.

Netflix VPN ban – The Problem

Netflix split down on the use of VPNs. They now decided to block attempts to bypass their region-locked content using VPN services. To make it more difficult to access Netflix content from other countries.

Netflix was pressured into this action by movie copyright holders. Because the pricey streaming rights for big movies are sold separately in different countries.

Netflix VPN & Catalog Access

Whenever customers use a VPN to watch a movie that is not licensed in their country. The copyright holders do not receive payment for the view. So there really has been pressure on Netflix to prevent users from getting around region locks.

A few years ago, Netflix took a more tolerant attitude towards privacy and also copyright law. But with the rise in the importance of its own content. It is becoming stricter around potential piracy issues now.

Eventually, Netflix has said that they want to provide global access to content. So that you can watch all of the content wherever you are in the globe.

But achieving this will be a long process of negotiations with copyright holders. So we are unlikely to see Netflix global any time soon. But for now, it is highly likely that Netflix content will remain region locked for the near future.

VPN Detection, Explained

When users have a VPN enabled and visit the Netflix site. They can browse the content, as always, using the VPN location.

For example, if you connect to a VPN server in the United Kingdom and go to netflix.com. Then you will see the United Kingdom version of the website and everything appears to be working. But when you select a video to play, you may get an error that says “Whoops, something went wrong… Stream Error”.

So this is actually a warning that Netflix has detected that you are using an unblocker or a proxy. And because of that, you will not be able to play the video. If you see this warning, it means that Netflix has blocked your VPN and you won’t be able to watch your content.

This problem is caused by the sophisticated VPN detection that Netflix uses. At first, the VPN works as the Netflix site sees an IP address in the United Kingdom. And so it serves the UK version of the site (it reads the country code of the incoming IP address and serves up the relevant version of the site).

However, the Netflix server that hosts the actual video content. Instead of the website, uses many stricter detection methods to determine whether a VPN is being used or not. This prevents you from watching the video, even if you can navigate the website.

Best VPNs for Netflix (Editor’s Choice) | NetFlix VPN ban

1. ExpressVPN

As well as having extremely fast servers that are ideal for streaming the video. The most reliable VPN provider for accessing Netflix is ExpressVPN. With its huge network of servers in 145 cities in 94 countries. You will easily be able to spoof your location to watch Netflix from places like the United States, Canada, and Germany.

You might find that not all the servers work with Netflix when you use ExpressVPN, as the VPN detection evolves over time.

If you have tried some of the servers and not found one which is working. Then you can contact ExpressVPN’s 24/7 customer service and ask them to recommend you of which server to connect to. They should be able to point you to the server that you need.

ExpressVPN supports plenty of different platforms, that includes:

  • New and older versions of Windows (that is Windows RT, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, 8, and 10)
  • Mac OS and iOS
  • Linux
  • Android
  • Chromebook
  • Kindle Fire
  • Nook.

The strong 256-bit AES encryption keeps your data safe and the no-logging policy will make sure your privacy.

 NordVPN

Here is another VPN option for Netflix users NordVPN. This service is perfect for the folks who are privacy-minded users. Thanks to its strong encryption and no-logging policy. It specializes in getting around region locks. So it has one of the biggest networks of servers along with more than 5,100 servers in 60 different countries.

NordVPN, in fact, has Netflix-optimised servers that do not need any extra configuration to work.

These are particular numbered servers that have been set up to use for watching Netflix. You can see the exact instructions for watching Netflix on the NordVPN site here.

According to NordVPN’s info, the servers are right now working with Netflix in the United States as well as France, India, Netherlands, Canada, Germany, and also Australia.

CyberGhost

Cyberghost managed to reinvent themselves under new ownership. They have also improved operations greatly by adding a deluge of new servers and location Improved speeds by a long shot and upped the security for all their infrastructure.

The good thing about advertising some 3,600 servers all around the globe is that some of these are actually meant for Netflix streaming. You just have to open up the application and select your preferred server from the streaming menu.

That means you will not have to contact customer support for working servers. Above all, there is a review feature that allows you to thumb up or down on a server’s IP address. That pings the support team if a server has been blocked or not.

From a privacy standpoint, Cyberghost is based in Romania. The country that has no data retention laws, that means you can stream totally private. No logs and no data usage will be leaked.

PrivateVPN

PrivateVPN is another great solution for unblocking Netflix. They focus strongly on privacy and usability that means it will allow you the comfort of accessing content safe and also secure.

PrivateVPN has applications for smartphones, computers and even the firestick. It comes with a super light and really sleek interface. So that everyone can use it no matter how tech-literate they are. You just have to choose a server and connect.

The service comes with a unique feature that will make watching Netflix very easy.

StrongVPN | NetFlix VPN ban

Some users also complain about StrongVPN not working with Netflix. Our testing revealed that they have specific servers in the United States to unblock the Netflix United States. Miami and Atlanta worked great, however, if you encounter issues just email the support team and they will help you out with working servers.

The only drawbacks are that we could not use the OpenVPN protocol. That is actually more secure than PPTP (Note: SSTP also worked at the time of writing). And that you cannot unblock Netflix from the application.

So if you do not have any problem running Netflix in a browser, StrongVPN is really a “strong” option.

Netflix and Shared IP Addresses | NetFlix VPN ban

The first issue is that VPN detection investigates is shared IP addresses. Many VPN providers will use shared IP addresses. So you can be on the same IP address as dozens or even hundreds of other users.

This is advantageous for anonymity, but it is easy for Netflix to see that IP addresses are accessing large amounts of data. That Suggest that they are a VPN shared IP, and to block them.

Anonymity vs Sacrificing Privacy

One solution to this is to use an individual IP address, that some VPN providers do offer. But this loses the advantage of the anonymity offered by a shared IP.

Another problem is that VPN providers will typically buy up IP addresses in large bulk. So they will have a whole lot of servers under similar IP addresses.

Once Netflix has discovered that a particular IP address is used by a VPN. It sometimes bulks blocks an entire range of addresses.

This means that users who are not even running VPNs can be affected by this issue. Because their IP address happens to fall close to a range of VPN IP addresses.

The rules which Netflix uses to detect VPNs are not fully understood. And their VPN detection continues to develop over time. This has created a situation where many if not most VPNs will no longer work with Netflix.

Even if you are a Netflix customer who only wants to access content from your own country. Then you still won’t be able to use the service without turning off your VPN and sacrificing your privacy.

Netflix’s Application vs Browser

A separate complication with watching along with a VPN is the two different ways. In which you can access the Netflix service. As well as banning IP addresses, Netflix also detects VPNs by just looking at whether the location of your IP address and your DNS server matches or not.

If you use your web browser to watch Netflix and you have a VPN installed. Then the VPN provider will be able to route your traffic through a DNS server that they have provided. This way, your traffic and your DNS server match and you do not trigger the proxy error.

When you use Netflix in an application for your Android or iOS device. However, this does not always work. Applications can override the DNS settings on your device and force your device to use the default ISP name server.

This also means that when your VPN service is turned on. The location of the traffic passing via the server does not match the DNS server. And so the application can detect VPN use.

In this case, you will trigger the proxy error. Many VPN providers have not yet been able to resolve this issue to allow users to watch Netflix via an application. However, the VPNs that we have selected below have found a way around this issue to make it work.

Install a VPN on Your Router | NetFlix VPN ban

An alternative strategy to manage this problem is to install your VPN software directly onto your router instead of onto your individual devices. This way, any traffic that is sent via your router (i.e. any traffic originating from your home network) will be automatically encrypted.

Once you have installed your VPN software onto your router, you’ll need to configure your settings to forward DNS queries to the DNS servers provided by your VPN. Now, you can watch Netflix on any device – even via an application – without triggering the proxy error.

You can find instructions on how to install VPN software onto your router and how to configure your DNS settings on your VPN provider’s site.

How to Use Netflix with a VPN

Once you have chosen a VPN provider and signed up for a plan. Then using your VPN with Netflix is simple. Start it by downloading and installing the VPN software from your chosen provider.

When you run the software for the first time. You will see a list of servers in different countries that you can connect to.

Find one that is in the country where you want to watch Netflix from and connect to it.

Does My VPN work? | NetFlix VPN ban

You can check whether your VPN is working by going to whatismyIPaddress. This site will tell you your current IP address, and show the location of that address on a map. Make sure that the IP address matches the location that you wish to access Netflix from.

Now you can open up your browser and go to Netflix. You should see the version of the site that corresponds to the location of your VPN server. So, if you picked a server in the UK, you should see the UK version of Netflix. Log in and you can use the site as usual, but now you get to see all the UK content instead of your home country’s content.

You can use this method to access Netflix from all over the world. Some of the most popular versions of Netflix are those in the US, Canada, and the UK, as these have lots of content that is missing from other countries like Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Hong Kong, and Turkey.

Bypass Netflix Region Locks | NetFlix VPN ban

Netflix has set out on a mission to make bypassing its region locks on content more and more difficult over the last year or two, and they have succeeded in locking out many VPN users.

Whilst it may be understandable that they need to enforce strict rules about region locking from the copyright holders who provide their content, it is highly controversial that they are also blocking access to those customers who want to use a VPN in order to protect their privacy.

Netflix VPN ban: The Future

Eventually, Netflix aims to make all of its content available globally, but for now, we are stuck with region locking.

If you want to access Netflix content from other countries, however, this is still possible. You can use either of the two VPN providers that we recommended here – ExpressVPN and NordVPN – to bypass Netflix region locks.

Conclusion

Alright, That was all Folks! I hope you like this Netflix VPN ban article and find it helpful to you. Give us your feedback on it. Also if you guys have further queries related to this article. Then let us know in the comments section below. We will get back to you shortly.

Have a Great Day!

Also See: Complete Guide on Jailbreak Roku & Install Kodi

About the author

Windy Moore

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