Digital streaming is a revolution for those of us who love television. Wherever we are, whatever the time of day, we are able to keep up with the programs that we love and adore simply by making use of the internet. While this is true across the planet, the channels that many of us from the UK would miss if we suddenly were unable to watch it are the ones from the BBC, our first and best broadcaster. This makes the BBC iPlayer a wonderful thing, because it no longer matters if we’re late home from work or invited out to last orders just as our show starts to air. But there’s still one time when the BBC iPlayer cannot help you: when you leave the United Kingdom.
Why Can’t I Watch the BBC iPlayer From Outside the United Kingdom?
If you’ve traveled abroad on business or for pleasure and tried to watch the latest Sherlock on your laptop from your hotel room, you’ll no doubt already have noticed the problem. If you attempt to access the BBC iPlayer from outside the United Kingdom, you get nothing more than an error message telling you that you are in the wrong region. And you may already know that the reason for this is that BBC programs are region locked and can only be offered to citizens of the UK. But did you know that there’s a way around the problem?
I Can Use a VPN to Watch BBC Programming From Abroad?
Yep, you sure can. The reason that you will see the error message when you log on to the site is that the iPlayer portal has just checked your IP address as you arrived. It has searched for the numbers in that address that will identify you as being located in the UK and, not having found them, ascertained that you are not permitted to view BBC programs. It doesn’t actually matter that you’re a UK citizen and perfectly within your rights to watch Eastenders, because the way that the region restrictions are implemented affects absolutely everyone outside UK borders. A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, gets you round this problem by masking your IP address and showing a fake one to the iPlayer portal. If you invest in a VPN provider who has servers in the UK and then choose those providers to connect to, you will appear to be in the right place to watch the iPlayer.
So How Do I Get One?
Signing up for a VPN is simple: all you need to do is check that your provider has servers in the right place. Of course, you’ll also want a provider who is able to offer you good speeds, high bandwidth, excellent security and the reliability to know you can watch your shows whenever you want to. We asked our experts to find the best providers for the job and have included their choices for you in the comparison table below:
| Rank | Provider Name | Starting Price | Money Back Guarantee | Visit Provider Site |
 |
ExpressVPN | $6.67/month | 30 Days |  |
| 2 | Hidemyass | $6.55/month | 30 Days | |
| 3 | IPVanish | $10.00/month | 7 Days | |
| 4 | StrongVPN | $21/ 3 months | 7 Days | |
| 5 | VyprVPN | $14.95/month | 7 Days | |
