Other Any VPN recommendations for accessing geo-restricted content?

[prateik]

As the title says..

what's the best option for accessing something like the iPlayer or content from my country that I pay for but isnt available when I am traveling ..

Just curious..
Was looking at PIA as its pretty affordable .. $40 for a year.. but apparently it doesnt play nice with geo-blocked content.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

ExpressVPN, hands down.

I have my appletv running through their media server and I have their open vpn at router level for when that’s required (Prime).

This gives me bbc, itv, All4, NowTV, BT Sport all directly from appletv and now Brexit screwed overseas access to prime, the router level VPN sorts that as Media Server doesn’t.

 

[Ali Dia]

+1 for express VPN.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

+1 for express VPN.

I’ve tried a few too, surfshark have amazing prices but I couldn’t get my apple tv and their service working so well. They are worth a try if trying to save money though as they have that money back guarantee which I took advantage of when testing all of them out.
Express just seem to be miles better than the rest.

 

[11101]

I have Express VPN too. It's good and easy to use. You can put it on your router to cover the whole Wifi network or just on individual devices.

It's not perfect, sometimes the providers do figure it out and block it, but it always gets fixed after a few days.

 

[prateik]

Thanks a lot.. ExpressVPN is $100 for 1 year.. 2.5x what I was looking at with PIA (both have 12+3months) ..
The money is fine if I use it regularly.. I'm just not sure how much I'll be using it.

If nothing else works, I'll probably end up going with it anyway..

I’ve tried a few too, surfshark have amazing prices but I couldn’t get my apple tv and their service working so well. They are worth a try if trying to save money though as they have that money back guarantee which I took advantage of when testing all of them out.
Express just seem to be miles better than the rest.

Did Surfshark work well with geo restricted content and were your issues just about how it works with the Apple tv? Or did it not always work for blocked content / speeds slower etc..

If its just apple tv, I might give that a go.. if the overall performance is a bit sluggish/not that good, then there is no point saving a bit for an inferior experience.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Thanks a lot.. ExpressVPN is $100 for 1 year.. 2.5x what I was looking at with PIA (both have 12+3months) ..
The money is fine if I use it regularly.. I'm just not sure how much I'll be using it.

If nothing else works, I'll probably end up going with it anyway..


Did Surfshark work well with geo restricted content and were your issues just about how it works with the Apple tv? Or did it not always work for blocked content / speeds slower etc..

If its just apple tv, I might give that a go.. if the overall performance is a bit sluggish/not that good, then there is no point saving a bit for an inferior experience.

I’m pretty certain surfshark worked well on mobile and laptop, I don’t really remember 100% though.

As I say, pay with paypal and if you aren’t happy, they’ll pay you back instantly.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

@Regulus Arcturus Black or any other Express VPN users, can you post a screen shot of a speed test using your VPN? The one thing that goes against VPNs for streaming is that they're generally quite slow. I have Avast VPN and my speed tests have shown between 38 (peak times) and 90 Mbps (this morning...pleasantly surprised) whereas without the VPN I can get 200+ no problem.

 

[11101]

@Regulus Arcturus Black or any other Express VPN users, can you post a screen shot of a speed test using your VPN? The one thing that goes against VPNs for streaming is that they're generally quite slow. I have Avast VPN and my speed tests have shown between 38 (peak times) and 90 Mbps (this morning...pleasantly surprised) whereas without the VPN I can get 200+ no problem.

I have tested it before and connecting from Italy to the UK I get 5-10mb on a 50mb connection.

I dont think its possible to have a VPN that doesn't significantly throttle your bandwidth, regardless of what their advertising says.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

I dont think its possible to have a VPN that doesn't significantly throttle your bandwidth, regardless of what their advertising says.

I agree, just interested in finding out who's the fastest.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

@Regulus Arcturus Black or any other Express VPN users, can you post a screen shot of a speed test using your VPN? The one thing that goes against VPNs for streaming is that they're generally quite slow. I have Avast VPN and my speed tests have shown between 38 (peak times) and 90 Mbps (this morning...pleasantly surprised) whereas without the VPN I can get 200+ no problem.

I’ll do it when I get home, just out at the local eating dinner. I have no issues streaming though, even on 4K netflix.

 

[Drawfull]

@Regulus Arcturus Black or any other Express VPN users, can you post a screen shot of a speed test using your VPN? The one thing that goes against VPNs for streaming is that they're generally quite slow. I have Avast VPN and my speed tests have shown between 38 (peak times) and 90 Mbps (this morning...pleasantly surprised) whereas without the VPN I can get 200+ no problem.

Which is fine, but iPlayer almost never works for me with Express VPN regardless of server selection or device.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Which is fine, but iPlayer almost never works for me with Express VPN regardless of server selection or device.

iplayer is the crapest of all, All4, ITV, BT Sport never have an issue, but iplayer can on occasion. I watch through their media player though, you? And I watched MOTD the other night without any issues at all.

 

[Solius]

I bought a 3 year Nord VPN license a while back and it's been flawless for me since.

 

[coolredwine]

I have their open vpn at router level for when that’s required (Prime).

How have you set that up? Any user guide you can point me to. thanks!

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

How have you set that up? Any user guide you can point me to. thanks!

What router you on? I have an Asus XT8 mesh system.

I set it up by logging into the router and after that the options I set up are available in the app to easily switch on and off....

 

[Drawfull]

iplayer is the crapest of all, All4, ITV, BT Sport never have an issue, but iplayer can on occasion. I watch through their media player though, you? And I watched MOTD the other night without any issues at all.

I’ve only really used iPlayer for sports and it’s a pain. Through the website is sometimes better. But I basically use iptv for bbc now as I can’t rely on thevpn. As you said the rest are fine (I’m casting BT to tv since Brexit. Wouldn’t know where to start putting the vpn on my router, is it easy?)

 

[prateik]

I bought a 3 year Nord VPN license a while back and it's been flawless for me since.

Was looking at this too.. price wise, its between PIA and Express..

I’ve only really used iPlayer for sports and it’s a pain. Through the website is sometimes better. But I basically use iptv for bbc now as I can’t rely on thevpn. As you said the rest are fine (I’m casting BT to tv since Brexit. Wouldn’t know where to start putting the vpn on my router, is it easy?)

Not all routers support it. what are you using ?

 

[limerickcitykid]

My sister found a way to access iplayer, 4od, ITV etc outside of the UK without a VPN a few years ago. But for the life of me I can’t remember how she did it and neither can she. It was something to do with changing the settings of your internet connection. But everything I google trying to find out just brings up VPNs. I had my laptop configured the same way to use CBC in the UK but I’ve since moved and use a different internet connection.

Anyone here ever managed it? Whatever it was, it still means all the UK channels work for my sister in Canada.

It annoys me every time I think about it.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

I’ve only really used iPlayer for sports and it’s a pain. Through the website is sometimes better. But I basically use iptv for bbc now as I can’t rely on thevpn. As you said the rest are fine (I’m casting BT to tv since Brexit. Wouldn’t know where to start putting the vpn on my router, is it easy?)

On mine it was extremely easy, once logged into the router there’s a vpn option in the menu. ExpressVPN has a file you download and upload to router so piece of piss for my router.

Here’s my current speeds @Dwazza Gunnar Solskjær

No VPN:

ExpressVPN East London:

Apple TV through ExpressVPN’s media player DNS thingy:

Netflix recommendeds 25mbps for 4k content right? So 100+ is more than enough, mesh system helps too of course.

 

[prateik]

update : got NordVPN. works fine with iPlayer/US netflix.. doesnt work with hotstar India.

Speeds are pretty decent. No issues there..

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

Cheers Regulus. Somehow I missed the notification.

 

[Penna]

We use Express VPN, it seems very efficient.