Unblock Streaming Services – Important Feature by Major VPN Providers

There is no denying to the fact that the VPN is highly used to unblock streaming services and getting access to restricted content.

Services like Netflix, HULU, Amazon, BBC iPlayer, and various others impose severe geo-restrictions on their content. For instance, people residing outside the US don’t have access to HULU. Why? Well, HULU is strictly a US service. The same is true for the BBC iPlayer which only works for UK residents.

Geo-restriction is one thing, but limiting a show or a movie to a certain region is totally another. While the former is often due to the unavailability of service in a region, like in the case of HULU, the latter is a case of flawed licensing deals. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video limit various shows to only the United States due to their licensing deals.

Fortunately, you can bypass all of these restrictions by using a quality VPN streaming service. Major VPN providers like ExpressVPN, Surfshark, and NordVPN can unblock all of these sites. These services implement their proprietary VPN features for streaming to give their users the ability to seamlessly connect to their favorite streaming sites.

Why Is It Important for a VPN to Unblock Streaming Services?

Well, let’s crunch some data to give you a better idea about the use of VPNs for streaming:

• 26% of the whole internet uses a VPN. Let me put this figure into perspective. 57% of the world’s population is on the internet. That is some 4.33 Billion people. And 26% of these 4.33 Billion souls own and use a VPN. 26% of 4.33 Billion is a mind-boggling 1.11 Billion active VPN users!
• Out of these 1.11 Billion VPN users, 50% use their VPNs for entertainment purposes. This means that 500 million people use a VPN only to enjoy the internet. And let me blow your mind once more, the majority of these 500 Million people use their VPN to access Netflix each month. Roughly 319 million people use VPN for streaming i.e. accessing geo-restricted content on Netflix. This was also confirmed by our finding of the major VPN services who saw increased sales during COVID-19.

These figures are astonishing. With each passing year, the number of people looking for ways to stream blocked content is increasing. These people look at all the available options like free proxies, and free DNS addresses like 1.1.1.1. But by and large, the majority of these users stick to trusting their favorite VPN service to get the job done.

Therefore, it is crucial for VPN providers to keep their products up-to-date to ensure that they can unblock popular streaming services.

Which VPN Services Have Taken Strict Measures to Unblock Streaming Services?

VPN providers are in a constant struggle against geo-restricted streaming services. It’s a back and forth battle where each side is trying to stay one step ahead of the other. The pattern of this ongoing battle is this:

1. VPN providers allocate a new IP block to a server in a country like the US.
2. Now, users connect to that VPN server using their VPN and are assigned a new IP address. This way, the user’s actual location is masked, and behold; they are watching Netflix US while sitting in South Africa!
3. But Netflix soon catches up to them and gets the server blocked.

This is exactly where good VPN services step up their game and figure out a way to break the limitations set by streaming services.  These services use in-genuine methods and with a team of industry-leading experts, develop proprietary solutions.

Different VPN providers use different methods to unblock sites. They then package these methods as VPN features used to unblock streaming sites. For instance, let’s take a look at what Surfshark does:

Surfshark – Best VPN to Unlock Streaming Services

Servers — 3200 servers in 100 countries.

Unblocks — Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and more.

Torrenting — Offers P2P optimized servers for Torrenting.

Simultaneous connections — Offers unlimited simultaneous connections.

Logs — Strict no-log policy

Money-back guarantee — 30-day refund policy.

Visit Surfshark

Surfshark has taken stringent measures to ensure they continually unblock streaming services. This inexpensive VPN uses Smart DNS which they call it Trust DNS+. This helps in both fast streaming and Whitelisting of an IP address.

One distinctive benefit of Surfshark is its ability to support unlimited simultaneous connections, allowing me to use it across all my devices. We tested this by streaming Hulu on our smart TV while watching Amazon Prime on our phone, and the VPN handled both streams without any issues.

ExpressVPN – Fast VPN for Streaming Blocked Content

Servers — VPN Servers in 105 Countries.

Unblocks — Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and more.

Torrenting — Offers Network Lock for secure Torrenting.

Simultaneous connections — Offers 12 simultaneous connections.

Logs — Strict no-log policy

Money-back guarantee — 30-day refund policy.

Visit ExpressVPN

When we take a look at ExpressVPN, it quickly unblocks streaming services. The folks behind ExpressVPN, like other major VPNs, constantly acquire and add new IP blocks to their servers. This is the simplest way of dodging the blocking algorithms of streaming sites.

Streaming sites can’t block an IP they haven’t seen before. So, in this situation whenever a user uses an IP from this new block, he gets access to the service.

A key feature that impressed us is MediaStreamer, which functions similarly to Smart DNS and allows you to bypass content restrictions on devices that don’t support VPN apps, such as Apple TV or PlayStation. We used it on our Apple TV to stream Hulu US without the need to install the VPN software directly on the device.

NordVPN – Access Content with SmartPlay Technology

Servers — 8,353 servers in 127 countries.

Unblocks — Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and more.

Torrenting — Offer obfuscated and P2P optimized servers.

Simultaneous connections — Offers 10 simultaneous connections.

Logs — Strict no-log policy

Money-back guarantee — 30-day refund policy.

Visit NordVPN

NordVPN uses a mix of a remote VPN server with a Smart DNS. NordVPN calls this mix SmartPlay. It unblocks streaming services by DNS rerouting and uses an additional pool of IP. This adds an extra layer of security and allows access to certain websites. So, essentially, you get the best of both worlds.

Overall, if you’re looking for a VPN that provides smooth, high-quality streaming, NordVPN is the top option. Its SmartPlay technology allows easy access to global content, while the NordLynx protocol ensures fast and dependable speeds.

What Measures Have Streaming Services Taken in Blocking VPN Services?

If you were a streaming service and had invested billions in your infrastructure, of course, you wouldn’t want people to go against your business plan. If you allowed that, you would be saying goodbye to millions of dollars in potential revenue. This is the reason why streaming services take pretty strict measures in blocking VPNs.

Let’s take Netflix as an example, as it has the strictest policy against the use of VPNs to hide IP addresses. Netflix maintains and adds to a list of IP addresses that users use to connect to its service.

So, essentially, every time you connect to Netflix using a VPN, the streaming service notes down your IP address and runs a scan on it against its own database of IP addresses.

By the time this scan is over, two things will have happened:

1. Netflix infers you aren’t using a VPN service if your IP address doesn’t match the IP addresses they have flagged.
2. Netflix blocks you because your IP address matches the list of addresses they know belong to a VPN service.

This technique has proven pretty successful because no VPN service can unblock Netflix all the time. Eventually, every VPN provider runs out of new IP blocks to allocate. Consequently, to keep providing their users with features to unblock streaming, VPN providers must obtain and allocate new IP blocks.

Do VPNs Actually Work for Streaming?

Yes, VPNs are effective for streaming, especially when it comes to bypassing geo-restrictions. Whether you’re trying to access a different Netflix library, stream from BBC iPlayer, or watch HBO Max while overseas, a reliable VPN can help you access content that might otherwise be blocked.

Popular VPNs like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark are favored by many streamers due to their ability to consistently unblock platforms without compromising streaming quality.

Additionally, streaming communities, particularly on Reddit, are filled with real user experiences. You can find plenty of genuine feedback, with people sharing insights about which VPNs work best for accessing specific content or which ones offer the best speeds for high-quality 4K streaming.

Surfshark gets a lot of praise from users on Reddit as it’s affordable and works with almost all streaming platforms. Users recommend it if you are on a tight budget.

Conclusion

As you can see, unblocking streaming services is a constant struggle. No side wins here. Fortunately, VPN providers have some of the best engineering talents in the industry. For the most part, every major provider is doing a good job unblocking streaming sites.

So, for what it’s worth, VPN users are enjoying and will continue to enjoy streaming content regardless of their geographical location.