The 2022 FIFA World Cup is just around the corner and we’re ready for the best football nations in the world to fight for the grand prize.
The FIFA World Cup is going to be the biggest event of the year, and you want to make sure that you don’t miss out on a single second of the action. The World Cup is being hosted by Qatar in the Middle East, and every major football country in the world will be there. Well, all but Italy who were surprisingly knocked out of the World Cup during the qualifiers.
You might be wondering how you can watch the World Cup from anywhere in the world. There are plenty of streaming services out there, even some that will be streaming the World Cup for free this year. But, if you’ve been using the internet for long enough (especially websites like YouTube and Netflix), you’ll be all too familiar with geo-blocking. It’s frustrating, but it exists for a reason.
Luckily there is a way that you can bypass geo-blocking, and all you need is one handy cybersecurity tool. Keep reading to find out more about how geo-blocking works, and how you can bypass it within a matter of minutes.
Geo-blocking on Live Streams
Media companies need to pay millions of dollars to secure the broadcasting rights that will allow them to live stream FIFA World Cup matches for their customers. These media companies need to make their money back, which is why their subscription fees can often become a bit pricey.
But, securing the streaming rights for the FIFA World Cup also comes with a strict set of rules that media companies need to follow. One of these rules will determine where the media companies are allowed to stream their content. Oftentimes they’re only allowed to stream to devices within their local region and their own country. This prevents the bigger companies from setting up a monopoly and cutting out the smaller companies
If any device tries to connect to the live stream but they’re not in an approved region, it will be blocked from accessing the content — this is known as geo-blocking. Devices will even be blocked if it’s a paying customer trying to access a live stream while they’re traveling abroad.
Streaming websites use your IP address to determine your location and decide whether or not to block you from accessing their content. An IP address is a unique string of numbers that are used to identify your device on the internet. One of their main roles is to supply websites with information about your location.
Using a VPN
So, all you need to do is learn how to change your IP address, and then you can use your favorite live streaming service to watch the FIFA World Cup from anywhere in the world, even while you’re traveling. It also gives you the freedom to use other streaming sites, such as Servus TV in Austria which allows its customers to live stream the FIFA World Cup for free.
The tool you need to install on your device is a virtual private network, but it’s more commonly known as a VPN. The main purpose of a VPN is to encrypt your internet connection, which will prevent anyone else from seeing what you are doing on your device while you’re using it. Not even the government or your internet service provider can monitor your internet traffic while your VPN is active.
But, VPNs also allow you to connect to secure global servers in other countries and cities around the world. When you connect to these servers, your real IP address will be hidden, and your device will adopt the IP address of the server that you have connected to.
Remember, an IP address is what websites use to pinpoint where your devices are accessing them from. So, changing your IP address will spoof your location and trick websites into thinking that you’re accessing them from elsewhere. All you need to do is connect to the relevant country that your favorite streaming platform is based in, and you can access it as normal.
Choosing a VPN
While you’re looking for a VPN to use, you will come across some free VPNs. It might be tempting to use one of these to save some cash on your FIFA World Cup live streaming this year, but it’s ultimately not worth it.
Free VPNs come with some serious drawbacks that will affect your streaming experience on match day. While using a free VPN you can expect slower connection speeds, more ads, less security, daily data limits, and fewer global servers to choose from.
Make sure to choose a premium VPN and always read some thorough and reliable reviews on the VPNs performance. The main factors you should consider are the connection speeds and the range of global servers that are on offer.
Read more:
How to Watch the FIFA World Cup While Traveling