Gadgets IT

Use Roku3 outside the US to watch netflix & hulu plus

Written by Ambi

Roku3 is the newest addition to my gadget collection!

My Boxeebox was getting slower and I was looking for a new alternative with latest features. Did an extensive research on this and finally I had to choose between Google’s Chromecast Vs Roku3 and Roku3 was a clear winner mainly due to its awesome in-ear headphones option which I really need as I share my room with another guy and this is a real killer deal for me.

So ordered my Roku3 from Amazon and within a week, I got my device.

Here’s my recipe for watching Netflix outside the US using Roku3.

  1. VPN:https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/ (PIA)- $39.95 / year, the best VPN service I’ve ever used! PIA Supports up to 5 users (Supports a wide range of platforms:Android, iOS, MAC, Windows, Ubuntu, DD-WRT routers etc), fully anonymous, No activity logs stored, easy setup
  2. Internet Sharing on my MAC: Free (Inbuilt with MAC)
  3. VPN Auto connect : $0.99
  4. Netflix subscription: $7.99 a month

Steps:

  1. Purchase PIA and setup the VPN either on your router/MAC/Windows. If on router, all your locally connected devices to the router now have access to any US content, but here I will be using this with a MAC.
  2. I didn’t wanted to use the VPN on the router level. Instead of using the default MAC VPN client from PIA, I used the L2TP/IPSec setup, so that I could select that VPN for Internet Sharing from MAC to Roku3. Once the VPN is connected on my MAC, one thing I noticed was sometimes, the VPN connection gets dropped. To fix this issue I used VPN Autoconnect
  3. VPN Auto Connect is a tiny tool which, once installed and after selecting your preferred VPN connection which is setup already, watches for any connection drops and connects back to the VPN instantly and automatically
  4. Use the MAC’s inbuilt “Internet Sharing” option, select the VPN connection to share and use the WiFi option
    MAC Internet Sharing
  5. Connect your Roku to this newly created wifi and proceed with the initial setup. You just need to give any US address (freely available on the internet) and add your local banking card details for any app purchases. And Voila! Enjoy all US apps from your new Roku3

About the author

Ambi