Classic Hacks: How To Get American Netflix In Australia


Since it launched in 2015, the Australian version of Netflix has been adding a steady stream of content each month. While the selection of movies and TV shows is getting better, it still pales in comparison to the US version due to national licencing deals. Here’s how to get the whole US catalogue in Australia – without getting slugged by the exchange rate.

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We originally shared this tip back in 2015 when Netflix first launched locally. The hack involves exploiting a loophole which allows Netflix users to access their accounts overseas:

You can take advantage of Netflix’s traveller-friendly policies: if you take your device overseas, it will automatically switch you to the content available in that region. Using a VPN or similar technology, you can make your browser pretend that it’s in the US (or the UK, or any other market where you want to check out Netflix’s content).
 
The challenge is that decent free VPN services are few and far between. Ultimately, if you’re keen to take advantage of region switching, paying for a VPN service will give you the best results. Any VPN which offers region spoofing will work. You can check our guide to choosing a VPN for more information.

Since we first published this article, Netflix has cracked down heavily on VPNs and many companies no longer provide access to international Netflix as a result. Fortunately, there are still a few services and workarounds you can try which we’ve outlined below.

One solution is to build your own personal cloud VPN via Amazon’s cloud service AWS. This can be done for free for a year although data costs will kick in past the first 15 GB. Click here for more instructions.

Alternatively, you can sign up to a regular VPN provider that still works with Netflix. This has become increasingly difficult in recent years, but there are still a few good options out there. You can find out how popular VPN services are combating Netflix blocks here.

If you just want a cheap, quick solution that works, our personal recommendation is PureVPN. This service boasts unlimited data and an affordable annual subscription that’s currently more than 70% off. (Click here to get the deal.) We’ve been using it for months and it has never been successfully blocked by Netflix.

Lifehacker’s Classic Hacks is a regular segment where we dig up the most popular, useful and offbeat advice from our archives and update it for your modern lifestyle.


This story has been updated since its original publication.


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