Watch UK TV Abroad online from anywhere in the world.
If you are on holiday or living outside of the United Kingdom, you may be missing your favourite UK TV programmes. Websites, such as BBC iPlayer and ITV Player show all of the UK TV that anyone needs, including up to 30 days of catchup, all their TV shows are recorded online so you can watch them at any time. The problem with these sites are they are only available if you are in the United Kingdom, which is a great shame, especially if you are glued to a series or soap and do not want to miss a single episode whilst you are on holiday! There are always options, such as visiting a bar, but you will find it hard to get them to show Eastenders or Coronation Street when there is a big football match on or live entertainment.
There is another option, just as long as you have an internet connection, you can sit in the comfort of your villa, or by the pool or even sit on the beach, relaxing with a beverage as the waves crash in, catching up on your favourite TV show or watching live UK TV. This option is called a VPN service (Virtual Private Network), basically unblocking the blocked UK websites by giving your laptop a UK IP address. When you are outside the UK and connect to an internet connection, you are connecting using a foreign IP address, so the UK website will know you are abroad and block your viewing. Using a VPN service will allow you to watch UK TV abroad, no matter where you are in the world.
There are many VPN services available that you can purchase online that will give you a UK IP address, but you need to know some facts before making any purchase from a VPN service, otherwise you will get very frustrated with connection and buffering problems and most certainly lose your payment. Here are some things to look for when purchasing a VPN service to watch UK TV when you are outside the United Kingdom...
1, Many services will offer UK TV abroad using their VPN server, thats right, "their server", probably meaning that they only have the one server. A VPN server is what you connect with to give you the UK IP address and all internet traffic will run through that server. Many of these companies will cramb all of their customers onto the one server, so at peak times, when everyone is connected, you will get buffering, freezing and connection problems, making it impossible to enjoy your TV show. When searching for a VPN service, make sure that the company you choose offers more than 3 or 4 UK servers, so that if one server becomes full, you can switch to another less used server.
2, Always look for a free connection trial, doesn´t matter if it is 5 minutes or 24 hours, make sure that your system is compatible, if you can connect to the server, without problems, you are good to go. If a company doesn´t offer a free connection trial, avoid them like the plague, they will take your payment and you will have problems later on.
3, Check for a refund policy that does not involve opening a Paypal dispute. A company that simply says, "If you are not happy, open a dispute, this is why we use Paypal", once again, avoid. A Paypal dispute could take weeks and your payment will be retained during this dispute and in most cases, the company will win because it is a service they provide and not a physical product.
4, Always look for a service that offers instant renewals or instant access, you do not want to wait hours or even days for your service to arrive. You want to watch TV whenever you like, instant renewals will ensure that when you want to watch TV, you are only a couple of minutes away after payment.
5, Customer service is very important. Make sure that there is a contact page with a ticket system or customer support that is open 7 days a week. If you have a problem at the weekend, in peak times, you need someone to help you, you do not want to have a problem on Friday evening and have to wait until Monday morning to watch TV!
6, Most services will charge you extra for USA servers, there is a lot of good TV on USA websites, a company that offers USA servers at no extra cost is a good VPN service, it shows that they mean business and want you to enjoy the service so you will come back for more. Some popular UK shows are available on a lot of USA networks, so it is also good to have both UK and USA servers available at any time you wish to use them.
7, Check the small print or FAQs page of any service you are interested in purchasing. If there is a "fair usage" policy, avoid them. A fair usage policy will cut down your speed or even cut your service off after using a certain amount of data transfer. A UK VPN service for UK TV should not have a fair usage policy, reason being, TV streaming takes up a lot of data, so a UK TV VPN should have unlimited data transfer.
1, Many services will offer UK TV abroad using their VPN server, thats right, "their server", probably meaning that they only have the one server. A VPN server is what you connect with to give you the UK IP address and all internet traffic will run through that server. Many of these companies will cramb all of their customers onto the one server, so at peak times, when everyone is connected, you will get buffering, freezing and connection problems, making it impossible to enjoy your TV show. When searching for a VPN service, make sure that the company you choose offers more than 3 or 4 UK servers, so that if one server becomes full, you can switch to another less used server.
2, Always look for a free connection trial, doesn´t matter if it is 5 minutes or 24 hours, make sure that your system is compatible, if you can connect to the server, without problems, you are good to go. If a company doesn´t offer a free connection trial, avoid them like the plague, they will take your payment and you will have problems later on.
3, Check for a refund policy that does not involve opening a Paypal dispute. A company that simply says, "If you are not happy, open a dispute, this is why we use Paypal", once again, avoid. A Paypal dispute could take weeks and your payment will be retained during this dispute and in most cases, the company will win because it is a service they provide and not a physical product.
4, Always look for a service that offers instant renewals or instant access, you do not want to wait hours or even days for your service to arrive. You want to watch TV whenever you like, instant renewals will ensure that when you want to watch TV, you are only a couple of minutes away after payment.
5, Customer service is very important. Make sure that there is a contact page with a ticket system or customer support that is open 7 days a week. If you have a problem at the weekend, in peak times, you need someone to help you, you do not want to have a problem on Friday evening and have to wait until Monday morning to watch TV!
6, Most services will charge you extra for USA servers, there is a lot of good TV on USA websites, a company that offers USA servers at no extra cost is a good VPN service, it shows that they mean business and want you to enjoy the service so you will come back for more. Some popular UK shows are available on a lot of USA networks, so it is also good to have both UK and USA servers available at any time you wish to use them.
7, Check the small print or FAQs page of any service you are interested in purchasing. If there is a "fair usage" policy, avoid them. A fair usage policy will cut down your speed or even cut your service off after using a certain amount of data transfer. A UK VPN service for UK TV should not have a fair usage policy, reason being, TV streaming takes up a lot of data, so a UK TV VPN should have unlimited data transfer.
One company that I highly recommend is British TV Anywhere, www.britishtvanywhere.com, they offer 7 UK servers, 7 USA servers and also many more European and servers from all over the world, all in all, around 30 servers! You can switch in real time between any of their servers and buffering is never a problem. British TV Anywhere have been around for a very long time and have a free connection trial, refund policy, unlimited usage and you can even share your account with up to 2 other people, allowing 3 connections at the same time. I have been using this service for over 4 years now without any problems and I travel a lot. All links to all UK TV channels are found in your members area, so simply, connect to one of their servers, go to your members area and choose a channel to watch, simply as that!
Enjoy your sangria, cocktail or beer on the beach, at the pool or in your villa. Sun shining, UK TV is playing and you feel good, not missing your favourite TV shows, football match or soap. A VPN service is something that is always a priority on my holiday list because not only can I watch UK TV when I am abroad, a VPN also adds extra security when using my laptop in public wifi hotspots. It is something every holiday maker should have on their list alongside passports and flight tickets!
Enjoy your sangria, cocktail or beer on the beach, at the pool or in your villa. Sun shining, UK TV is playing and you feel good, not missing your favourite TV shows, football match or soap. A VPN service is something that is always a priority on my holiday list because not only can I watch UK TV when I am abroad, a VPN also adds extra security when using my laptop in public wifi hotspots. It is something every holiday maker should have on their list alongside passports and flight tickets!