Nearly half of VPN users use such a service to access overseas streaming services. The American version of Netflix is particularly popular because there are nearly two thousand programs inaccessible from Europe. Only here: Netflix does not appreciate at all that we seek to interfere with its rules and therefore makes life difficult for VPNs.
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If you are a fan of series, you can sometimes deplore that certain episodes are accessible on the American version of netflix but not yet in France. Sometimes also, the film studio which gave a license of diffusion to Netflix in the United States may have entered into other agreements with broadcasters in other countries and therefore not offer a particular series in these countries. Thereby, House of Cardswhich is a typical Netflix creation, is not available on Netflix Hong Kong because, in this particular country, the American giant has an agreement with another streaming service.
The French cultural exception
France imposes its own constraints. The principle of cultural exception forces broadcasters to offer a significant proportion of French programs. In addition, the law prohibits a work from being broadcast before 30 months have elapsed since its first broadcast – and therefore in cinemas for films.
Overall, there are thus nearly two thousand programs on the American version which are not accessible in France: Netflix US offers around 6,000 content while Netflix France offers around 4,000. Examples of series not available on Netflix France include Twin Peaks, dexter or The Office.
Netflix is waging war on VPNs
What if you are a fan of such series or films not available from us? The solution is to use a vpn and thus make Netflix believe that you are connecting from an American city.
Yes, but… netflix does not like to have its rules broken for many reasons. One of them comes from licensing agreements with content producers. If one of them does not want a particular series or program to be available on Netflix France, the parent company feels obliged to enforce this agreement.
In fact, many studios have made pressure on Netflix so that their rights are respected. Netflix has therefore devoted enormous investments to the question and its engineers have worked to limit access to vpn. thousands ofIP addresses were identified and blacklisted. So those who had acquired VPNs to access US Netflix exclusives could have that access blocked overnight.
The situation has even worsened since August 2021: Netflix has strongly tightened its restrictions in order to reduce this violation of its terms and conditions of use as much as possible. Some VPN providers even abandoned the prospect of being able to offer such access.
The best VPNs for accessing US Netflix
By necessity, the ability to provide access to American Netflix has therefore become a major criterion put forward by many service providers. vpn to promote their offer. Depending on service Techradar who has tested the thing extensively, five VPN offers stand out in the matter :
A game of cat and mouse
If you have an effective VPN to access Netflix, there is no guarantee that it will work tomorrow. Netflix continues to tirelessly lead the hunt for VPNs. The best VPN providers, on the other hand, try to sidestep the issue by offering new servers and new IPs. You will sometimes have to test a lot of addresses and connection locations before obtaining the desired access. The best services regularly inform you of new addresses to use.
Performance issues
Even if you use a VPN service giving access to Netflix US, everything will not necessarily be rosy. Since they encrypt the connection, VPNs tend to slow down the speed somewhat. Thus, it is not always pleasant to watch a series in 4K on Netflix US when you go through a VPN – sometimes it is necessary to settle for HD mode. The more servers a VPN offers, the less this factor speed seems to be a concern.
What to do if you are denied access to Netflix US?
If you are denied access to Netflix US from your VPN, then you must change the city or the server from which you are simulating a connection. If the message ” Streaming error » keeps popping up, you might want to clear your browser cache. It is likely that it still works by default according to this old location.
It may also happen that a VPN that has worked with Netflix US can no longer give access to it once the American giant has reinforced its protections. It is best to subscribe to an offer that offers the option to unsubscribe if the VPN no longer provides the requested service.
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