Three years ago, Netflix expanded to 190 countries for the first time. Reed Hastings, their CEO, declared that the world was then witnessing the birth of a global TV network. What he failed to mention, however, is that Netflix would not be the same for everyone in the world. 

The inconsistencies began with the pricing of the service. Although users in countries like the U.K, Australia, and Indonesia pay a similar subscription fee to the one in the U.S., others have had to pay significantly more (for instance, in the case of Denmark and Switzerland, or significantly less, in the case of Turkey, Brazil, and Argentina). 

In addition, the company has ensured that copyright holders get their way at an international level, by means of Netflix’ geo-blocking restrictions. What these limitations mean is that while you may be able to watch the award-winning sitcom How I Met Your Mother in the U.S., this is not possible in the U.K. Hollywood TV studios and producers have put a lot of pressure on all international content providers, including Netflix, Amazon, and Apple’s iTunes Store, to enforce regional copyright on their products. The goal? To make as much profit on their releases as possible. To avoid the restrictions, the majority of Netflix subscribers are now looking for the best VPN for streaming Netflix. 

Do you get your money’s worth?

In the case of Netflix, price differences are accompanied by dissimilar content availability. In the U.S., you can log in on Netflix and watch The Walking Dead at your leisure, yet if you happen to travel to the U.K., you can say goodbye to Daryl and Rick for the duration of your British trip. The same holds true for thousands of series and movies across the world, with the exception of content that is marked as Netflix original. Regions that are economically developed, like most Northern and Western EU states, have to pay more for a service that, in many cases, does not even include their favourite titles. 

In the U.S., the Netflix library currently holds over 5,600 titles, whereas Denmark and Sweden have a little over 3,000. While it is incredibly cheap in Turkey and Brazil, Netflix’s offer in these countries goes down to an average of 2,800 and 3,900 titles, respectively. Believe it or not, Japan’s Netflix is actually a better value deal than in the U.S., as it currently holds over 6,000 series and movies. Despite this, the fact that a country may have more titles does not guarantee that those will include shows that are running in other regions. It’s easy to see how the modifications in price and content availability have angered a great deal of subscribers who joined precisely because they thought they would have access to their favourite American shows anywhere in the world.

How does a VPN help?

Many users were further antagonized by geo-blocking while travelling. For instance, if you’re a U.S. subscriber who is currently on a trip to Britain, you won’t be able to relax in your hotel room by streaming your favourite show on the laptop. Instead, you’ll have access to the British library. It makes little sense that you, as a payer of an American service, are now bound by restrictions that apply to the U.K. Some have gone as far as to say that this is a discriminatory practice that seeks to bank on the differences between national markets. 

In order to avoid getting wedged between these outrageous limitations, Netflix subscribers have been using VPN services to stream the platform’s content no matter their location. What a VPN does is mask your location and re-route your Internet traffic through a server at another location, usually a different country. This means that, before you connect to Netflix, a VPN can make it seem that you’re back home. With just one click, you can enjoy your favourite series, even while visiting countries where the service is subject to different copyright laws, as well as regions where it is geo-blocked entirely. 

If, for example, you’re on a trip to China, Syria, or the Crimea region of Ukraine, the U.S. government’s restriction on domestic companies makes it so that you can only access Netflix with a VPN. Of course, the media-service provider has been quick to react to VPNs, empowering their users to continue accessing their services regardless of geo-blocks. Fortunately, shutting down a virtual server that’s been blacklisted and opening a new one dedicated to streaming is a routine procedure for VPN companies. 

Take your Netflix anywhere

A good VPN service guarantees the security of your private data and Internet traffic while travelling to other countries. Aside from masking your true location, it encrypts your connection so that nobody will be able to use your information even if it is leaked. 

Particularly for clients of the most popular streaming service worldwide, a VPN is necessary to be able to watch their most beloved shows and movies without having to pay for cable subscriptions. At great expense, some VPN servers have already been banned by the company, but numerous others have appeared in their stead to ensure that you can enjoy your Netflix from anywhere, at any time.