The NFL season is well underway and we’re in for one of the most exciting seasons that we’ve had in a long while! We may be a couple of weeks into the season already, but there have been some massive upsets and surprises. That trend is set to continue throughout the rest of the season, and you don’t want to miss out on a minute of the action!
If you’re traveling abroad or living outside of the United States, you’re likely to run into some geo-blocking restrictions when trying to tune into an NFL live stream. Luckily, this can be overcome by using a simple cybersecurity tool known as a VPN. Even better, this tool will also allow you to watch free NFL live streams online — we’ll get into that later!
If you’re looking for the best VPNs for NFL live streaming, look no further! We’re going to dive into how these nifty little cybersecurity tools work, and why they’ll be your best companion to every NFL game this season. Keep reading to get all the details!
Watching NFL From Abroad
If you’re trying to watch NFL games from outside of the United States, you’re going to struggle. Whether you’re just traveling or you’ve moved abroad permanently, you’ll certainly run into geo-blocking restrictions, and here’s why.
Media companies like ESPN need to pay millions of dollars to secure the broadcasting rights that allow their customers to watch live NFL games. Along with this contract comes a strict set of rules that they need to follow. One of these rules will determine which regions they are allowed to broadcast the games in, and it’s likely to be inside the US only.
But, how would a website know where I’m accessing it from? Websites will use your IP address to determine whether you are accessing them from the correct region or not. An IP address is just an exceptional series of numbers that is utilized to recognize your gadget on the web. One of the main purposes of an IP address is to pinpoint your device’s location and provide that information to websites so that they can target you with specific marketing such as your local restaurants and grocery stores example.
So, if your IP address shows that your device is trying to access a streaming website from outside of the correct region (which is the United States for NFL games), you’ll be blocked from accessing the stream.
The Cybersecurity Tool You Need
Luckily though, there is a way that you can change this IP address and spoof your device’s location. All you need is a popular cybersecurity tool known as a virtual private network, or VPN for short.
The main purpose of a VPN is to encrypt your internet connection which will prevent anyone else from seeing what you are doing on your device while using it. This will even prevent the government and your internet service provider from keeping track of your internet traffic and looking into your internet history. A VPN is your essential cybersecurity tool for privacy and security.
But, if you’re trying to stream NFL games from outside of the United States, you need to use the second feature that VPNs offer — the ability to change your device’s “virtual location” at the click of a button. How can you make a website think that your device is accessing it from another country?
When you’re using a VPN, you can connect to a secure global server in another country or city around the world. In doing so, your real IP address will be hidden from the website, and your device will adopt the IP address of the server that you have connected to instead.
This will trick the website into thinking that you are accessing it from elsewhere. For example, if you’re in Germany, all you need to do is connect to a VPN server in a US city. Once you do, you’ll have access to any US live streaming website without having to deal with those annoying geo-blocking restrictions.
Finding the Perfect VPN
VPNs are great tools, but it’s important to choose the right one if you want to have a great streaming experience on game day. There are thousands of VPNs to choose from, so how do you know which one will be best for your device?
Ultimately, the most important rule that you need to follow is that you need to avoid using free VPNs. Premium VPNs might come with a monthly cost, but they are worth considering. Free VPNs come with a ton of drawbacks such as slower connection speeds, more ads, less security, fewer global servers to choose from, and even daily data limits. All of these factors will affect your live streaming experience.
