I am sure many Canadians were thrilled when they heard the news about Netflix expanding to Canada. No longer were they left out in the cold and they could now enjoy the wonders of Netflix streaming in Canada. The story could end here but it doesn’t, because the content is Canada is mediocre compared to the US content. Thankfully there is a way to get the US version of Netflix in Canada.
Actually your Canadian Netflix account works just the same as the US counterpart. All that determines the amount of content you have available when logging in is your location. In other words all you have to do is fake your location and then you can use your Canadian Netflix account to access the US content.
Netflix will detect your location via your computers IP-address, which you inherit from your Canadian ISP. This means that all you need is an American IP-address in order to fool Netflix into letting you access the US content. By connecting to what is known as a Virtual Private Network you can inherit an American IP-address from the US and thus fool Netflix.
Setting up a VPN connection is a fairly simple process. There are a range of VPN providers on the market – personally I use Hide My Ass VPN, which works really good for this trick.
Once signed up simply install the application for Mac or PC and then connect to a server in the US. In about 5-10 seconds you will receive a new IP-address and the app will display a green indicator showing that you now appear as if located in the US.
From then on you can simply reload the Netflix website and the Canadian content will now be exchanged for US content. It is that simple really.
If you want to use the VPN connection with your Game console or Apple TV you can do that as well. The trick is sharing a VPN connection from a device that is already connected to a VPN. There are 3 options you can use:
Although Hide My Ass has no app for your mobile devices you will get access to account info once signed up that you can use manually on your mobile devices. This means that you can take full advantage of your Netflix account on all devices.
Anyhow that is all there is to it if you want the US version on Netflix in Canada.
As a quick side note it is worth mentioning that since Netflix looks at Latin America as one region you can simply connect with the app from Hide My Ass to the server in Panama and then you will get access to all the local content of Mexico, Brazil and so forth.
Basically this trick will allow you to get the most out of your Netflix Canada account and on top of that your data traffic will now be secured as all traffic is encrypted via the app. That way you no longer have to worry about logging on to open Wi-Fi networks when outside.
Learn how to share your VPN connection so you can take advantage of VPN on any device. This is a great trick for Game consoles, TVs and the likes. Learn more about the method »
Written by Thomas Fals