Many people may be disappointed when they learn that they are not able to “officially” use netflix in New Zealand, but it is possible! In a few easy steps you too can be up and using netflix, and watching your favorite movies and tv shows instantly online, for practically free (when you compare it with how much you pay for renting movies or cable television).
I am going to call it the red screen of death that we have all gotten!
How does Netflix know I am in New Zealand you ask? Something called an IP address. An IP address is the address of your computer that allows other computers to communicate with it. Your IP address changes all of the time, but it is always a New Zealand IP address, and that’s all Netflix needs to know (more about IP addresses). So how do we get around this? We give you an IP address from a country that already has Netflix!
Getting an IP address from another country turns out to be extremely simple (and relatively cheap)! You can do this by using something called a VPN. A VPN or Virtual Private Network, acts as an intermediary between your computer and the internet. VPN‘s have typically been used in big companies so if you are working from home or traveling, you can still access the company’s computers securely. Recently, people have realized that they can use VPN‘s to get around regional access restrictions on things like movies, tv shows, and music online.
There are several different VPN providers, but one good quality provider with a fair number of access points in quite a few different countries (including the US), and also fairly reliable access speeds so you can stream HD (as opposed to standard definition, which is still fairly high quality), is pureVPN. Their $8.95/month account should be enough to let you watch your favorite movie’s and TV shows on Netflix.
Once you have signed up to use pureVPN, you can use their software to connect to a location in the United States. You can also connect to Canada, Mexico, UK, Brazil, and soon Norway, having an IP from any of those countries will allow you to sign up for a Netflix account. Once you are connected you can visit netflix to signup for a free one month trial account.