Welcome to our guide to using a VPN for smart TV. Essential reading for anyone who wants more freedom in how they watch movies and TV shows.
We’ve found some great VPNs that work wonders in keeping your viewing completely private while dramatically boosting the content you can watch. Obviously, this will come at a cost but we can even show you the cheapest smart TV VPN for those who want to enjoy some cut-price TV viewing.
All VPNs will aim to give you greater privacy over how you use the internet, and they will also give you more freedom too. So if you use a VPN on your smart TV, it would let you watch what you want without someone snooping on your personal data. Plus you’d have the bonus effect of being able to watch movies and TV shows from providers even if they aren’t based in your country.
Let’s have a think about what this would mean in reality. Usually, when you watch a TV show it will be via a streaming service that would know exactly who you are as well as where you are based along with lots of your personal details. Not only that but your personal data would also be seen and shared by your ISP.
However, by using a VPN, your web traffic would be rerouted via a server in a remote location and it would be then transmitted in an encrypted form to the internet service. This would mean that the internet service wouldn’t know where the web traffic was coming from and you would then be able to overcome any local restrictions.
This means that if you were based in the UK, you could use a VPN to watch a TV program that was only available in the US months ahead of its official release in your home country. Perfect for ensuring that you never run out of great things to watch.
| VPN | Cost | Number of connections | Servers |
|---|---|---|---|
| PIA VPN | $11.95 per month | Unlimited simultaneous connections | Over 500 servers in 84 countries |
| SurfShark VPN | $12.95 per month | Unlimited simultaneous connections | Over 3,200 servers in 100 countries |
| Proton VPN | $9.99 per month | 10 simultaneous connections | Over 1,400 servers in 67 countries |
This is one of the best-known VPNs and deservedly so. Much of this is down to the fact that ExpressVPN offers some of the fastest download speeds of any virtual private network. This is because you’ll commonly see download speeds that are less than 1% lower compared to going without a VPN.
Such impressive figures clearly make ExpressVPN an excellent choice for anyone who wants to enjoy their smart TV without any annoying buffering or time lag. Much of this is down to the fact that ExpressVPN has a huge server distribution which means that it’s able to give you fast processing speeds without relying on virtual servers.
Plus it’s worth noting that ExpressVPN maintains its high levels of privacy and security even if you’re just watching that latest Netflix box-set. The only downside is the high price of this VPN, but even that is on a par with its rivals.
This is another premium VPN that is a good choice for anyone looking for more freedom in how they use their smart TV. SurfShark VPN boasts some seriously fast download speeds that are commonly less than 5% compared to what you’d get with your standard internet connection. This means that you’ll be able to watch TV shows and movies from outside your locale and not suffer any data drop-outs or buffering.
There’s plenty more to like about SurfShark VPN beyond its fast download speeds. After all, you get to use unlimited devices simultaneously which is great for a bit of split-screening, and there’s some powerful split tunneling tools that let you decide which websites and services actually use the VPN.
Again, the main drawback of SurfShark is its high price point, but with additional features like antivirus software and breach detection, it’s a small price to pay for such a quality VPN.
If you want a VPN on a smart TV, then the chances are that you aren’t going to want to meddle around with lots of advanced customisation features. Nor will you want to worry about whether that VPN is actually keeping your web traffic private.
In which case, we should really point you in the direction of NordVPN. After all, it’s been a market-leader in the VPN realm for many years now and much of this is due to the fact that it keeps adding evermore useful features to its basic product.
This means that as well as enjoying download speeds just marginally slower than your regular internet connection, you can benefit from password managers, antivirus tools and much more. Sure you might not use that encrypted file locker when you’re settling down in front of your smart TV, but such options can be useful elsewhere. While it’s not cheap, there’s no denying that NordVPN is a powerful piece of kit.
Using a VPN on a smart TV will depend on what kind of television you have got as well as what VPN you are using. Here are a few examples:
If you want to use a VPN for Samsung smart TV, then you’ll probably be using the Google Android operating system. This means that you just have to download the VPN app from the Google Play Store to your TV.
From here you can then sign into the VPN and then connect to the VPN server. Just don’t forget to check the location to make sure that it’s capable of accessing the content that you want to watch. We should note that this method should work when using a VPN for a LG smart TV too.
If you use something like Apple TV, then you won’t find it as easy to use a VPN. However, there are options such as running a VPN through a router. Just bear in mind that many routers won’t support VPN connections and it’s not always the easiest task to complete.
This is why it might be worth simply running an Ethernet cable from your computer with the VPN onto your smart TV, or just using the Internet Sharing feature to transmit the data over WiFi.
All three of the above smart TV VPNs can only be accessed by paying a minimum monthly amount. However, there are other VPNs out there that can be accessed free of charge and they’ll still do the same basic function of letting you keep your web traffic private while giving you greater freedom over what you watch.
Free VPNs such as ProtonVPN and TunnelBear have proven hugely popular for precisely this fact. This means that you can download one of these VPNs for free and then use it just like you would any of the other VPNs on our shortlist.
So why isn’t everyone using these free VPNs? Well, they all have the following drawbacks which could affect how you enjoy your smart TV:
This guide has revealed that it’s pretty simple to use a VPN for TV to enjoy much more privacy over how you view movies and television shows. Plus these VPNs can dramatically increase the freedom in how you watch TV to give you a much greater choice of content.
The good news is that we’ve shown you that you won’t need a degree in computer engineering to set up a smart TV VPN, and that there are always simple workarounds if you run into any problems. So make sure that you keep checking back here to get the latest updates on what the best VPN for smart TV is right now.
Take a look at our guide to see if you can use a VPN for smart TV. If so, we’ll see whether any of the premium VPN providers like Express VPN can be used on your specific smart TV set.
Don’t miss our guide to see if you can use a VPN for TV and then apply this to your Netflix viewing. After all, the best VPN provider will aim to give you a private way to consume all internet content and this should surely extend to Netflix TV shows and movies.
We’ve got a handy guide that will simply show you the best VPN for smart TV. This means that you can get this VPN and then enjoy full privacy and freedom over how you watch movies and TV shows online
Read our guide to see if you can get a VPN for smart TV for free. After all, most VPNs are like SurfShark VPN in that they expect some kind of monthly fee, but this isn’t to say that you can’t sometimes get a free VPN.
Join us as we see what is the best VPN for smart TVs like LG televisions. This means that you’ll get to see whether you should try a VPN like NordVPN or whether another kind of VPN might be more suitable instead.
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