Streaming Sports with VPN?

Streaming Sports with VPN? A reader asks…

I’ve finally ditched cable and am using Youtube and other streaming apps. The problem is that my local games are blocked and I can’t watch them, such as on MLB.com. My local games are on MASN.com, but that service appears to only work with cable TV services. I read about using a VPN to bypass the local blackout restrictions such as on MLB.com, and it appears that it has to be done at the router level. Is this something I can consider and how would I go about this?

While using a VPN in general is legal, using it to bypass local content blocking likely violates the terms of the streaming service. For MLB.com, their terms of use agreement is here, and specifically states that your subscription will be terminated if you circumvent or attempt to circumvent any blackout or other use restriction. Not only that but they can charge you a $100 fee for early termination and other legal action. Other streaming services have some language on restrictions for use, but MLB.com’s is pretty specific for your situation.

That said, streaming services more and more are using various methods to stop people from using VPNs to bypass blackout restrictions. These involve identifying the servers that these VPNs use and blocking access from those servers. VPN services will often update the server IP addresses they use to get around this block. So streaming services continue to play ‘whack-a-mole’ trying to keep up. Streaming services will also try to identify subscribers who are violating their terms of service, terminating accounts and other punitive actions. So it’s a risk for you to use a VPN to try to circumvent content blocking from your streaming service. I neither advise nor recommend you do this.

That said, the following is simply technical advice on choosing and using a VPN service, not intended to encourage you to violate any terms of service with your streaming services.

Let me address your question about using a VPN on a router. Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide you with a router to connect your home to the internet through their service. The ISPs are also not interested in helping you circumvent local content blocking restrictions, and most won’t allow you to run a VPN service on their router. The same is true for many 3rd party routers you might buy, so before you buy a 3rd party router, be sure to check that it will support your VPN service of choice and is compatible with your ISP.

As for which VPN service to choose, you can look at online reviews and comparisons (such as this recent review of the top providers), and make your choice. That review’s top choice is NordVPN, which I’ll use in the following…

NordVPN has a list of the router brands and ISPs who don’t support their service here – compare that to your router and ISP. If you’re not on the list, NordVPN has instructions here for how to install the service on various routers. The procedure is highly dependent on your particular brand (and often model) of router so I can’t advise you further here. There are also methods for changing firmware on routers that is too complicated to go into here.

If your router is not capable of running NordVPN, you do have other options. You can install NordVPN on some SmartTVs (their help page is here), as well as installing their VPN app on your computers, tablets and smartphones.

One example is using a VPN to watch streaming content on your iPhone or iPad, streamed to your SmartTV with Airplay built-in, or your TV with your Apple TV connected. To do this, you’d activate your NordVPN service on your iPhone before you use Airplay.

Note that these tips work for Airplay whether you use a VPN or not, it’s just how to get your iPhone screen to stream to a big-screen TV. The iPhone Control Center has a several control icons, such as Screen Mirroring and the Now Playing/Not Playing icon group.

1. Tap the Screen Mirroring icon to stream your screen to a compatible Airplay device (SmartTV or AppleTV).
2. Tap the icon in the top-right of the Now Playing/Not Playing group, then tap the Airplay compatible device.

Some streaming services have the screen mirroring function built into their app on your iPhone, so look for this icon (my Disney app example). This will work regardless of what type of smartphone or tablet and TV or SmartTV you have, as long as they’re compatible with screen mirroring.

If you use an Android smartphone or tablet and a Chromecast, your icons, menus and screens are different, but the function is quite similar, using Screen Mirroring or Screen Casting controls. Same for other streaming devices (like Roku). If you’re not using a VPN you can simply use the app built into your TV or streaming device connected to your TV.

A second example is to connect your SmartTV or streaming device’s internet to your smartphone or tablet versus your home Wi-fi network. The internet connection will go from your home Wi-fi network to your smartphone or tablet, and with VPN enabled, you’ll be using it for everything streamed on your SmartTV or streaming device.

A third example is to use your computer to play the streaming service. Again, this can be used with or without a VPN running, you simply log into the streaming service on your computer and start playing the content, movie, TV show, whatever. You’re limited to the size of your computer screen which might be ok when watching on vacation, but to watch it on a big-screen TV, you’d need to connect your computer to the TV with a compatible cable (usually HDMI). There are ways to do this wirelessly, but they are more complicated and specific to your particular setup.

NordVPN lets you secure up to 10 devices simultaneously, so you could install it on all your computers, smartphones and tablets to use that service independently of each other. Unlike using a VPN on the router, you then can control which devices are using the VPN and which are not. There are certainly situations where you wouldn’t want to use a VPN, and certainly not all the time. Using a VPN does cost you in internet speed, as internet traffic has to travel through more of the internet in order to connect you to some online entity. Usually the slowdown is 10-20%, but sometimes it can be a lot more.

My recommendation is to only use a top-tier VPN (like NordVPN), only use it when you need to, and don’t use it to circumvent any legal or terms of use.