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Help Key: Watch Netflix from outside the U.S.

Posted: August 1st, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Gadgets | Tags: , , , , , | 20 Comments »

You Americans have all the good stuff. Stuff like BP pumping oil in the Ocean and guns, lots of guns. And then you have Netflix. Sweet Netflix. Us foreigners are wondering what it feels like to have a service like that. Now I know.

In Europe we also have online movie services. They are completely useless unless you are prepared to pay 3€ ($5) for a single movie for 24 hours. The content of these services is not very satisfying either. This is of course not an option for people who know that such things as Netflix exist. In Germany for example there are lawyers who make a living off scouting torrent trackers to see if you download a single MP3 or a movie. If they get you they will try to get your name and address from your ISP. First your ISP will refuse to hand your data to the rats. This leads to a pile up of legal costs. Finally 3-4 months later you will find a letter in the postbox saying that you have to pay a 1000€-5000€ + penalty because you downloaded something plus the legal fee that they spent on suing your ISP to give them your personal data. This has happened to many in Europe and while my solution is certainly not the best at least it’s not illegal (at least the swine will not come after you). So let’s get started.

Even to be able to open Netflix.com you need a decent VPN service. Fortunately you can give in any address in the U.S. and you don’t need a matching credit card. I pay $11.50 per month for the HydeMyAss pro VPN service and so far I’m satisfied with it. They have Linux/OSX/Win7 clients and they work pretty well. Now the trick is that if you want to have a decent picture quality you can’t use a VPN since it will slow down your connection pretty much.

Once you have a Netflix subscription and a VPN service subscription, do the following:

  1. Connect to you VPN service to a server in the U.S.
  2. Open your browser
  3. Go to Netflix
  4. Choose a movie and click Play Now
  5. Wait until you see the “Downloading Movie Information” message in the movie player
  6. Disconnect from the VPN service and you are now using your full bandwidth

Now I’m able to watch Netflix in HD from Germany (or from anywhere else). You can do the trick with WMC and this should even work with the Xbox 360 extender although I didn’t try. Also when you are watching series you can stay in the session; you don’t have to do the trick every time you want to watch the next episode. Just click play next.  Overall the whole thing costs $9 for the unlimited Netflix subscription and $11.50 for the VPN pro monthly. That’s just over $20. Cheaper than a 5000€ fishing expedition.

This way you can watch many other online services. For example Top Gear on BBC2 or Hulu. The speed trick, however, only works on Netflix. Be sure to experiment though.



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20 Comments on “Help Key: Watch Netflix from outside the U.S.”

  1. 1 iBarry said at 9:13 am on August 1st, 2010:

    Vidalia for Mac users can do the trick too and its free, not like Hidemyass that u have to pay for

  2. 2 eatai said at 10:11 am on August 1st, 2010:

    …and now that it’s on techcrunch, it will be another couple of days before netflix easily closes this loop hole (by just adding random checks throughout the streaming process making sure you are still on an American IP)…

  3. 3 toddq138 said at 10:22 am on August 1st, 2010:

    ironic how germany will punish you over a torrent but accept brothels in their society while here in America brothel-like places are constantly being raided and arrested.

  4. 4 carlos dudas said at 10:31 am on August 1st, 2010:

    http://www.tv-video.net/ and http://channelsurfing.net/ are the best i’ve found with broadcast network television that are working in canada ———————————–hey, i heard the new 9800 BB is rumored to have a touchscreen, and a slide out qwerty and will be RIM’s direct competition for the iphone.

  5. 5 toddq138 said at 11:17 am on August 1st, 2010:

    Germany has spotify and legal brothels. I would take those over netflix no problemo

  6. 6 artur said at 11:51 am on August 1st, 2010:

    i live here since about 25 years and I still don´t know any guy whos called ivan? You´re probably looking for Netflix in the Ukraine (hihi)

    Btw – Telekom entertainment pack is working fine … and doesn´t cost 20USD.

    Of course US services are the best – but please can you stop writing stories about it. Thats so unpatriotic :p

  7. 7 Paul Carr said at 12:23 pm on August 1st, 2010:

    I have Spotify and Netflix.

  8. 8 Ivan Beres said at 12:40 pm on August 1st, 2010:

    You know…it’s the torrent thing. You share mp3s and movies. That’s why you get the penalty. Plus when you get the letter you have 3 days to reply or they will push charges against you. About it being a lie http://www.mp3abmahnung.de/.

  9. 9 The John said at 1:03 pm on August 1st, 2010:

    You are using special software tools and a specific and roudabout procedure to circumvent Netflix’s location restrictions. Just because you pay for the tools, doesn’t mean it’s not hacking.

    Hacking’s not necessarily a bad word, but just be clear that it’s what you’re doing here.

    Anyway, Netflix would be happy to bring this to Europe and the rest of the world, but there’s probably a lot of deals and wrangling to be done with content producers before that can happen. It’s starting though; Netfix streaming is coming to Canada in the fall.

  10. 10 Chuckie said at 1:47 pm on August 1st, 2010:

    Actually, you are not violating the law within any European country, or even any US federal law, to use Netflix from abroad. but it might be a violation of state law under California Penal Code section 502, as Netflix, and its servers, are in California. Whether state prosecutors would go to the expense of extraditing you to California or not is another matter. I would imagine would the budget woes the state has, they would probably not do it right now, but they could prosecute you under a California statute that speifies 3 to 5 years imprisonment.

  11. 11 LowYear said at 2:11 pm on August 1st, 2010:

    Its a big fat joke and lie, that you or anybody have to pay 5000 euros + fines for some downloaded movies and mp3s in Europe. Any 50$/hour lawyer wannabee can write that simple letter which makes the case go away. Personal use of these illegally downloaded materials is simply not punishable in a lot of european countries. BTW i can watch hulu, bbc, netflix via vpn?? News of the year Ivan…

  12. 12 Rob said at 2:47 pm on August 1st, 2010:

    The TOS of Netflix specify that the content is only destined for US residents. So by circumventing their technical restrictions you are in breach of contract.

    It’s like watching UK’s Sky satellite TV in Germany. Just because you managed to get a receiver and are paying a subscription to Sky, you are not doing something legal. Why? Because Sky did not pay broadcasting rights for Germany. Most probably Premiere did. So in essence you are “stealing” from Premiere.

    I am just saying that because the one thing I hate more than intellectual property theft is people who try to justify it.

  13. 13 Chuckie said at 3:32 pm on August 1st, 2010:

    They are also so tight about what credit cards they use, too. You cannot use any PayPal generated MC numbers, and you cannot use bank debit cards. It must be a regular Mastercard or Visa.

  14. 14 Chuckie said at 4:13 pm on August 1st, 2010:

    Good luck to Hulu or Netflix in blocking proxies. I have had a problem user on my website forums, who just does not get the message that he is not welcome on my web site. I use programs like BeeThink, which have proxy lists, and this guy still eventually gets back in. From that experience, with this one persistent user, I can say that Hulu and Netflix will be fighting a losing battle blocking proxies

  15. 15 Wolfgang said at 4:45 pm on August 1st, 2010:

    Let me Google that for you:
    http://lmgtfy.com/?q=vpn&l=1

  16. 16 Gary M. said at 5:06 pm on August 1st, 2010:

    It’s great and all that your VPN service has a Linux client, but as far as I know, Netflix doesn’t work with Linux.

  17. 17 art vandalay said at 5:26 pm on August 1st, 2010:

    Or you can use a new service http://www.zediva.com, i.e. if you are ‘in the know’ to snag an invite (not a free service and absolutely legal). no country restrictions either.
    yes it’s an unsolicited plug for a friend

  18. 18 Riki said at 6:15 pm on August 1st, 2010:

    I think the problem is not Netflix, so Netflix will fix it but not because they want to, just because someone will tell them to (MPAA, RIAA, and so on).

    Nice post btw, thanks.

  19. 19 Ivan Beres said at 6:35 pm on August 1st, 2010:

    Nothing is getting hacked. I use a pay service to be able to access another one.

  20. 20 Ivan Beres said at 7:27 pm on August 1st, 2010:

    Actually it’s just a tool I use. It could be any other.

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