How to watch American Netflix on Chromecast outside US – VPN or DNS Proxy
Thankfully, there are not one but two easy ways to bypass regional restrictions. These allow you to change your Netflix region and watch USA Netflix on your Chromecast in Canada, Germany, UK, Australia, France, Dubai, Russia, or anywhere you might live.
Important Notice: As of May 20th, 2019, I have tested ExpressVPN and can confirm that it still works. If you are receiving the following Netflix proxy error (netflix.com/proxy). “You seem to be using an unblocker or proxy. Please turn off any of these services and try again.” use ExpressVPN to unblock US Netflix again.
How to unblock and watch USA Netflix on Chromecast through VPN
A virtual private network, better known as VPN, gives you the ability to alter your public IP address and subsequently unlock content that would usually be unavailable in your region. Thus, if you set up a VPN, you will be able to watch American Netflix via Chromecast outside the USA because VPN does spoof your online location. VPN does much more than that :
- It enables you to surf the web anonymously by hiding your IP address.
- By encrypting your internet traffic, VPN protects you from hackers and spies.
- VPN grants you access to geoblocked content and channels such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, Now TV, and more. However, you can access channels of only one region at once. If you wish to watch geo-blocked content from another region you need to re-configure your VPN IP.
- VPN works without problems even if your ISP uses DNS hijacking or Transparent proxies.
- You do need a VPN-enabled router to make this work, as Chromecast does not natively support VPN.
Below is a list of VPN providers, tested and assessed based on speed, reliability and support quality.
- Best for streaming and privacy
- High speed servers in 160 VPN locations
- Works for Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu
- 24/7/ live chat support
- 3 extra months free on annual plan
- UltraHD streaming
- Free Smart DNS proxy
- Unblocks all major streaming services
- Limited Time 72% Discount
- Unlimited VPN connections
- Over 1000 servers
- Ad-blocking feature available
- User-friendly application
- Exclusive Smart VPN feature
- Standalone Smart DNS subscription available
- Extra security features
- Extensions for Firefox and Chrome
- Split-tunneling available
How to Get American Netflix on Chromecast outside USA
- First, sign up with a VPN provider.
- Then, download and install the VPN application to your PC, Mac, Android, iOS device.
- Launch the VPN application and sign in using your VPN account.
- Now, connect to an American VPN server.
- Finally, go to the Netflix website or launch the Netflix application.
- Watch American Netflix outside USA on Chromecast.
ExpressVPN also provide their users with Smart DNS proxies that work on PS3, PS4, Xbox, FireTV, Roku, Smart TV, and routers. These devices do not have VPN clients. Therefore, you cannot install VPN directly on them. A Smart DNS proxy enables you to fix that issue.
Watch U.S. Netflix on Chromecast via Smart DNS Proxies
Smart DNS also enables you to unblock restricted channels such as U.S. Netflix on your Chromecast. The main difference between Smart DNS and VPN is that the former only redirects parts of your connection and doesn’t slow down internet speed as opposed to the latter. Smart DNS main advantages are:
- The ability to effortlessly switch between different regions thus bypassing multiple locations restrictions at once. This means you do not have to set up your device again in order to change your Netflix region.
- It maintains your internet speed which is crucial if you’re planning on streaming Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, Now TV, and so on.
- Your local IP address doesn’t change so you can still access all your local websites as usual.
- Unlocator has various videos and tutorials which will guide you through the whole Smart DNS installation. Unlocator also offers around 220 unblocked streaming sites.
Sometimes ISPs implement dubious policies like Transparent proxies and DNS hijacking. As a result, Smart DNS won’t work in such cases and you have to revert back to VPN.
List of American Channels You Can Unblock on Chromecast
This is a list of the most popular application that Chromecast supports, the solutions listed below “VPN and Smart DNS Proxies” unblock all of these.
- Netflix
- HBO GO
- Google Play Movies & TV
- Crackle
- BBC iPlayer
- BT Sport
- Hulu Plus
- Red Bull TV
- MLB.TV
- Crunchyroll
- Fandor
- WatchESPN
- VEVO
- WWE Network
VPN and Smart DNS allow you to unblock restricted channels such as Netflix, Hulu, Fox Soccer 2Go, Vudu, Amazon Instant Video, and more on various devices including Chromecast. Below you will find out more about VPN and Smart DNS and their benefits.
American Netflix on Chromecast unblocked
The VPN and Smart DNS methods above are proven to work. If you have comments or questions please submit those below.
Those 2 ip from google are no (longer?) sufficient to fool netflix when casting. As any vpn works only from a smart phone or laptop, casting is a pain, it seems that they keep fighting against it. The list of ip is at 8 different ip’s now; Once you block them by pointing the route to some non existing internl ip, you Also need an account with something like Unlocator in order to fool the Cast. With that account you can use their dns server which will forward non vpn’d request from cast to the dns server in the location of your choice, you set that on the web site.
They also set the netflix (or Disney) region optionally. The thing is : how long will it be before netflix or google comes up with one more ip or trick and this doens’t work any more? It alteady happened in 2015, history repeata jtself. So For me I think I will stick to only vpn and do screenmirrorjng using chrome from my mac. Trat works without unlocator; problem is that I always need my laptop when watching on big screen and audio comes from the mac book not the tv. But hey, it’s not like I watch geoblocked stuff every day.
What is not clear is why only some streaming sites/apps like netflix seem to have a problem when casting from an iphone or Mac with vpn only on phone/mac.
I can keep
Casting content from raiplay.it using momocast and vpn but can’t cast using the netflix cast button. I get that data flow goes to chromecast from non vpn internet But then why momocast app browser can solve that? There must be something else. Unfortunately Netflix page on momocast Doesn’t show movie play button as Netflix knows
It’s A Mobile device and doesn’t load the option, else Perhaps it would work.
I live in Australia and I have installed Chromecast, Netflix and Express VPN on both my android phone and windows laptop but I cant cast Netflix to my TV using either device. On my phone the chromecast icon goes blank or clear and on my laptop the icon changes colour to orange and I get an error message saying unable to cast. On my TV I only get the photos. Express works because I can watch geoblocked content on my phone or laptop but cant cast it. In your article you mentioned a VPN enabled router. What specifically is it? Should I buy one and which one is best? Thanks very much for your informative article.
Any DD-WRT router should suffice. Check this guide for more info on how to setup VPN on a router. https://thevpn.guru/vpn-client-dd-wrt-router-configure-guide/
Hola,
This thread is now for the time being obsolete.
Netflix took measures and now any attempt to use VPN or DNS redirection will be met with an error message in Netflix application/website stating that you are using VPN or DNS proxy and that you must change your settings back to be able to stream from netflix.
Greetz,
Raul
Hi Raul. There are some Smart DNS proxy services affected by Netflix’s latest measures, however, I can confirm that both ExpressVPN and Unlocator Smart DNS both still are able to unblock American Netflix on Chromecast without issues.
I have been using ExpressVPN and as of today, I cannot use it any longer to access Hulu or Netflix. I use them with a DD-WRT router and it doesn’t matter which city server I input, it simply doesn’t work. I’ve also tried through my cell phone with their app and casting it through Chromecast. Nothing works.
Hello Dan. Get in touch with ExpressVPN support. They should be able to sort you out.
How do i get US netflix to work on chromecast please, ive downloaded vpn can play on devices but not on chromecast. Where do i find router please
Hi Karly. VPN providers usually provide you with setup guides which allow you to configure VPN on your router. Note that not all routers are VPN-compatible.
I live in China. I have a dd-wrt router, but I don’t use it as a VPN router anymore because Open VPN has been blocked since 2012. I run PPTP VPN directly from my computer. Is there a way to use my Chromecast with these limitations? Would any of the earlier mentioned solutions work for me?
In order to enable VPN on Chromecast, VPN has to be setup on your router. There is no workaround I know of.
Just an add on here. I use vpn on my old macbook laptop so my WiFi router is not vpn enabled. In order to be able to chrome cast it onto my TV, I open the chrome browser, log onto Netflix and instead of choosing cast Netflix onto my chrome cast, I choose “cast this tab” instead. Worth noting that the best way is to start the casting first, then start your vpn service then log onto Netflix. The other way around won’t work. Hope that helps some people.
Just want to say thanks for the info – will have to work it all out later. My husband and I are looking at spending the summers on PEI and while we’re willing to spend money for the best internet service, we didn’t want to spend anything on TV channels when we already subscribe to netflix and prime and have a chromecast and a firestix. We also have a roku TV, cut I don’t see us bring that with us – It is good to know that the chromecast will work if we just get the right router. Putting this in my favorites – any comments about the firestix or is that too new?
With Chromecast, you have to configure DNS on the router as well as block Google DNS. With Amazon Fire TV Stick, you can directly configure DNS on the streaming device via network settings without having to access the router.
Thanks so much!
How do i block Google DNS? I’m using an Aztech router and my ISP is a dynamic one and not a static. Converting it to static will cost me so much more. Can i block google DNS without changing it to static?
Hello James. Setting up static routes to block Google DNS has nothing to do with whether you have a dynamic IP or static IP. If you routes supports setting up static routes, you’re good to go. If the router was provided to your by your ISP, it most probably does not support setting up static routes. In that case, the only alternative would be connecting a secondary router to your main router and blocking Google DNS on that secondary router instead.
This article is not accurate I am afraid.
Although you will be able to watch Netflix content from other regions on all your devices you won’t be able to use chromecast to watch these non-regional contents. This is because the chromecast device is hardcoded to use Google’s DNS servers (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4). You will notice that when you cast to your TV you will only be able to cast content (movies) from your region but as soon as you try to cast content (a movie) that is not in your region, this will fail with the message “We’re having trouble playing this title right now. Try again later or something like that”
This is because of the way Chromecast devices work. Chromecast devices do not stream the content from your smartphone or tablet when you cast the content. All your devices do when they cast content is send the URL to the chromecast device and the chromecast device will retrieve the content with the URL provided and it will do this using its own network and DNS settings (Google’s DNS 8.8.8.8). You can even turn off the device that casted the content to chromecast and chromecast will keep running the movie without problem. This should prove that chromecast is streaming from internet and not from the device that casted the content. If it was streaming from the device that casted the content you would be able to watch non-regional content….
You can watch the “non-regional content” without problem on your other devices because they use your “special DNS” but as soon as you cast non-regional content to your chromecast device it will fail.
There are workarounds though….
One could be to reroute the Google DNS to the DNS of your regional service provider (Unlocator, Unblock-us etc) but to do this you would need a dd-wrt supported router.
Another option would be to try adding a static route to an unresponsive local address or if your router supports blocking access to specific IP’s you can block Google’s DNS IP addresses (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4). I expect that if the chromecast device times out trying to reach Google’s DNS servers that it will (must?) revert back to using DHCP supplied DNS. At least… this is the way every device handles DNS so I assume the chromecast device should do the same.. Not yet tested though!
I have not had time to test these workarounds myself but as an experienced network designer/administrator I am pretty sure these workarounds should work. I will let you know when I try it out if it worked.
Hi Raul
Thanks for your input. Everything you mentioned in your post is accurate.
Thanks Bro.
I can confirm – if you block 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.8.4 on your router, you’ll be able to cast netflix to your chrome cast seamlessly – Thanks so much rauldelpeche you’re a genius
I have been having so many problems with this exact same thing and I am so glad its finally been explained so clearly as to why i haven’t been able to succesfully cast US Netflix through my chrome cast so Thank you Raul!
Steven or anyone else are you able to explain how i block 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.8.4 on my router?
Thanks!
Hayley,
You might be lucky if you have a router that has one of the two following features:
1 Feature to setup static routes.
Check the link below and see if your router is in the list, if so, follow instructions. If not, check in your router and cross your fingers and hope you can find a setting to setup “static routes”. If your modem/router is not to old there is a big chance you will have static routes options.
2 Feature to block ip addresses.
All routers can block IP addresses. The thing is that almost all routers give you the option to do this only for internal IP addresses.
So you will be able to block internal IP addresses from accessing internet but not the other way around. So you don’t have the option to block external IP addresses from internal IP addresses. If your router is not to old there is a small chance you will find this option in your router.
If both options are not available in your modem/router/firewall then you can check if your router is compatible with DD-WRT router firmware. Here is the link to the compatibility list:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices
If non of the above is available/possible with your current modem/router/firewall then it is time to buy a new one ;-)
Cheers,
Raul
Glad it is working for you now Steven. Have not had the time yet to setup my router :-(
Glad it is working for you now Steven. Have not had the time yet to setup my router :-(
Cheers,
Raul
Hi, thanks a lot for your clear (at least for me) suggestions… I live in Germany and if I create a static route for 8.8.8.8 it works (i have tried with Tracert and Google dns aren´t reachable), but as soon as I connect using a vpn to an italian server (so that I can watch italian netflix series, etc), I´m again able to ping 8.8.8.8 because I suppose that the vpn dns can find it. Do you have any other suggestion?
regards
Hi. Have you setup VPN directly on your router?
The part about needing a VPN enabled router should be even higher up, at the very top of the article, in bold capital letters.
You can always use Smart DNS since most routers do allow you to change DNS.
hi… im from Colombia and im workind with a VPN one click App. I have a chromecast device but i have some kind of conflict between my Smart pone (xperia z1 compact) and the chromecast. can you tell me how i can fix it please?
Thanks so much
Judging from prior experience the Chromecast is not using the VPN, both the Chromecast and the Xperia need to be on the same VPN
Hi I live in the U.S. and would love to get Mexico’s Netflix but am extremely confused with all that has been said. Would someone please elaborate or lead me to a site with an instructional definitive answer. I’d be super grateful. Also, my uncle lives WWE and cannot cast the app is there some way to remedy that? Totally grateful and relieved that you all found a solution, and that I’m not the only one who’s wondered about all this lol
Hi
If you are in the USA casting should not be an issue for WWE …as for Mexican Netflix see Unlocator.
I’m in Australia. I can play Netflix on my laptop, I can even play Netflix on my iPhone. Yet my Chromecast says that it can’t due to me being outside US. How do I fix this?
See this please https://thevpn.guru/how-fix-dns-isp-hijacking-vpn-dns-proxy
I’m in Australia too and have the same problem. A lot of people on here seem to be having the same problem, that they can play US Netflix on their phone or laptop but not on their TV. The answer is always the same, we are “not using VPN through the router”. I have no idea what this means and it looks like no one else does too! Can you explain this step by step, what this means and how to fix it?
Since Smart TVs do not have a VPN client i.e. you cannot use VPN directly on them, you have to install VPN on your router instead. The VPN provider you are subscribed to should have a step by step tutorial on how this can be achieved. Note that not all routers are VPN-enabled.
Alternatively, you can use Smart DNS to get US Netflix on your Smart TV. Smart DNS is much more flexible because you can directLy set it up on your TV.
I read this article still don’t understand. It’s just an explanation of VPN Hijacking.
What part didn’t you quite understand? Perhaps I can help you out.
I live in Mexico. Will the Chromecast device work. I would like to get Netflix USA and Pandora. Anything else I need to buy. Can I use it in connection with my laptop?
Hi
In theory you can setup VPN on your laptop and share that connection with your chromecast, a bit of a technical task though.
I live in Hong Kong, have no problem using Smart DNS on my lap top and getting Netflix etc. in US (no netflix in HK region) except when I want to chromecast from my lap top, the chromecast picks up I’m not in US despite when Smart DNS set to US. How do I get chromecast to think I’m in US? Do i Need to share that connection with my chromecast? If so, how?!
Please see your provider instructions, Google Chromecast does have DNS hardcoded and you need to block it at router level.
Thank you for your post. My VPN works great. I get all the USA channels I want here in UK. My problem is only with streaming Netflix USA to my UK Chromecast. Netflix has told me that my computer says I am in USA but my Chromecast is tittle tailing on me and telling them it is in the UK as it is going through my UK IP. Do you know how I can make my Chromecast think it is in the USA also? I can stream and cast everything else just fine. Only problem is Netflix USA. Thank you.
From the looks of it you are not using VPN on the router, Chromecast needs to go through VPN too.
Hi there, is there any way someone could talk me step by step how to set up the VPN on my router? I am more than willing to pay for such a service. I have A Sky (UK) router but have also bought Lynksys one in case the router is the problem. Thank you, you are awesome
I might be able to point you in the correct direction if you share your exact router model.
Oh Thank you!! My new router is a Lynksys AC 120 my present one is the basic Sky hub. http://www.sky.com/shop/broadband-talk/sky-hub/0
I bought a Chromecast in Canada, use it in Mexico to try and pick up UK Netflix. I use a VPN. It.s never worked before but last night I tried and it worked for one episode of a TV series. We turned everything off, when out to eat, and when we returned to watch the same show, no casting, just the message on the TV. I am casting from PC to TV. Was it not paying attention the first time?
Thanks
You would need to use VPN on your router, both the casting device “phone” and your chromecast need to be using the VPN on the router for this to work
Where do I get a vpn router as ice American netflix on my Samsung s4 living in UK but when I try to sync it with chromcast on my 50 inch… It doesn’t work. Thus needing a vpn router… Thanks
Smart DNS would work as well
Thanks for the article .
the VPN way works on my phone and i can open the mentioned US websitis but when I try to cast , my phone can not find chromcast device connected to network. When I disconnect from VPN my phone reconnect with chromcast. Im not much expert but I think its related to networks change.
Do you know how to bypass this problem? Thanks
The problem is that when you use VPN from your phone it is virtually on a second network. If you want to use VPN for all devices on your home network you need a VPN enabled router.
If the computer thinks you are in a country Netflix works. I HAVE Mexican Netflix but live in the US, have also been to the UK and Canada and all that happens is you get the Netflix of said country while there.
True, the idea though is to get USA Netflix while not living in the USA. Or for Mexicans to get MX Netflix while in USA.
I think what Darcy means is that, with Netflix at least, it doesn’t matter where you have your subscription, if you set your DNS or VPN to the U.S. settings, you will get the US Netflix content. So I am from the UK, have a UK Netflix account, I live in Lebanon, and if I set my VPN to “place me” in the US, I get the US Netflix content. This obviously won’t work for everything – for instance there is no Hulu service in the UK at all. As I don’t have a US bank account, I can’t get onto Hulu in the first place, let alone trick it regarding my location. With Netflix though, as long as you have a bank account in a country that does offer a Netflix service (not all do, e.g. Lebanon), then with these methods you can access the U.S. content.
How do you signup and pay for a network feed (like WWE USA, or HULU USA, or Netflix USA) when you live in Canada? I understand how the VPN and DNS service allows you to bypass region restrictions but how can a person setup an account with these streaming networks? Wouldn’t they discover you are originating from Canada if you paid using your PayPal or Credit Card?
It really does differ from service to service, some only require you to enter a US address, others work only with Paypal from a non-US location, then you have services which require a credit card that can be charged with US dollars.
Do you know someone in the USA whose address you could use for a prepaid credit card? Paypal does one and so do Green Dot.
Have you tried Payoneer ?