This year’s Winter Olympics will showcase some of the world’s best athletes in 116 different events across eight sports, attempting skiing, skating, snowboarding, curling and skiing their way to the gold medal. But you may be disappointed by the lack of options to catch all the Olympic action this winter if you don’t have access to the right services.
This winter, the Olympics are held in Milan and Cortina, Italy, from Wednesday to Feb. 22, with an opening ceremony on Friday. In the US, you can find TV coverage of the Winter Olympic Games on local NBC affiliates, USA Network and CNBC. Peacock is the primary streaming method for US viewers, and streaming is also available on the NBC Sports app, nbc.com and nbcolympics.com. While your local NBC channel is available for free if you have an OTA TV antenna or DVRyou may not be able to catch everything you want to watch only on NBC. And because cable and live streaming options require a paid subscription, you’ll need to pay to get the best of your US Olympics viewing.
However, with a virtual private networkyou can access free online streaming from other countries — which may allow you to watch all the events you want without paying a cent. A VPN is an application that you can download to your computer, mobile device or streaming device that allows you to attack your virtual environment, make it appear as if you are connected to the Internet from another country and allows you to access geographically restricted streaming content. So even if you’re in the US, you can still expand your Winter Olympic streaming options and catch all the action you want for free. Because with a VPN, you can unblock the region-restricted Olympics for free.
Which countries have free streaming options for the Winter Olympics?
Many countries around the world offer free Olympics streaming options. Keep in mind that most of these international broadcasts are broadcast in a foreign language, so some sites may be difficult to navigate and comments may be difficult to understand if you do not understand the language. Also, some of these sites may require you to create an account and/or enter a valid postal code in the country to access the content. If that’s the case with the site you want to live stream from, just do a quick internet search for postal codes in the active country to connect and get started.
For English-speaking Olympic broadcasts from other countries, you can turn to:
Other international streaming options presented in other languages include:
These are just a few examples of the many international streaming sites you can try accessing with a VPN to maximize your Olympic viewing experience. Remember that not all VPNs or server locations are guaranteed to work well for streaming the Olympics from other regions, so you may need to navigate around and try different servers or streaming sites to access the content you want. Also, be sure to check each site’s terms of service to ensure you’re not violating their terms by using a VPN. Using a VPN is completely legal worldwide, but some sites and services may try to restrict VPN use.
How to access geo-restricted Olympics broadcasts with a VPN
A VPN encrypts your internet traffic while transferring it to a secure server in a separate location, hiding your online activity from your internet provider, network administrator and other online entrants. At the same time, VPN it changes your IP address to the IP address of the VPN server you are connecting to, making your connection appear to be coming from somewhere else. A VPN is an important tool to improve your privacy on the Internet, but it is the function of changing the IP address that allows you to access geo-restricted content from other regions.
Because your IP address includes information about your general location, many sites and services that restrict content to certain regions rely on visitors’ IP addresses to determine their location and, therefore, deny or allow access to content. But if you visit a site while connected to a VPN server, the site registers the VPN server’s IP address instead of yours.
For example, if you’re in the US and connected to a VPN server in Australia, the 9Now streaming site will register your connection as being in Australia, and give you access to its content, including its Olympic coverage. Similarly, connect to a VPN server in the UK if you want to access BBC iPlayer, a server in Ireland to access RTE Player or a server in Canada to access CBC Gem. Wherever you want to stream content from, just connect to a server located in that country.
You can easily stream BBC iPlayer content by connecting to a VPN server in the UK.
If you want to access the US Olympic broadcast outside the country, you can stream the NBC broadcast through its apps and websites by signing in with your TV provider if you subscribe to one. Or you can access coverage of NBC, USA and CNBC through a live TV streaming service like YouTube TV, Hulu Plus Live TVDirecTV or Sling TV if you are registered. Just make sure you’re connected to a VPN server located in the US before trying to access content from any of those platforms.
Peacock remains the only option for access to all Olympic events from a US broadcast perspective. So if you’re in the US and already subscribed to Peacock, you don’t need a VPN to catch all the action. However, if you are traveling abroad and you want to stream the Olympics on Peacock, you will need to connect to a VPN server in the US to access the content.
You can access Peacock abroad by connecting to a VPN server in the US.
Using a VPN is easy
VPNs are generally very easy to download and use, especially if you choose a quality, verified provider from CNET’s list the best VPNs. To watch the Olympics, you will want a VPN that is fast, delivers reliable streaming performance and offers servers located in the countries you want to stream from. Most of our recommended VPNs have servers in over 100 countries, so you should be well covered with your streaming options — but it’s still a good idea to check the VPN’s list of server locations on its website before committing.
In addition to that consideration, you may want to think about your budget and how much you are willing to spend on a VPN. Currently, the fast VPN based on our recent evaluation of NordVPN, and The best VPN for streaming is ExpressVPN — two of the most expensive services in the industry. NordVPN it costs $13 per month, $60 for the first year or $83 total for the first two years, and the one-year and two-year plans renew for $140 per year. ExpressVPN it costs $13 per month, $75 for the first year or $98 total for the first two years, and the one-year and two-year plans renew for $100 per year.
If you want something cheapconsider Proton VPN or Surfshark, both of which are great for streaming while remaining very light on the wallet. Proton VPN it costs $10 per month, $48 for the first year or $72 total for the first two years, and one-year and two-year plans renew for $84 per year. Surfshark it costs $15.45 per month, $48 for the first year or $60 total for the first two years, and one-year and two-year plans renew for $79 per year.
Once you have registered, purchased and downloaded your VPN to your devices, all you need to do is log in to the app and select from the list of available servers displayed in the app. VPN user interfaces vary from one provider to another, but navigating the server selection process is usually pretty straightforward. You can usually scroll to the server location of your choice from the list of servers or search for specific locations by typing in the search field. Once you’ve found the server you want to connect to, simply tap or click on that server, and you should be automatically connected and ready to stream from your favorite location within seconds.
A word of caution when considering a free VPN
You might be tempted to go with one of the hundreds free VPNs available to save some money, but I only recommend paid VPNs for streaming — whether Olympics or otherwise — for a few reasons. While the free phase of Proton VPN is one free VPN we recommend at CNET, it’s not ideal for streaming the Olympics because its free servers don’t support live streaming and can deliver sluggish performance at peak times due to congestion. Also, you only get access to servers in 10 different countries, and you can’t manually select a server, so connecting to the location you want can be tricky. Proton VPN’s free tier is great for protecting your privacy while browsing the web.
Apart from being unsuitable for broadcast purposes, free VPNs can often be very dangerous to use. Many free VPNs make money by logging users’ activity and selling the data to third parties. At that point, it’s best not to use a VPN at all. Some free VPNs have also been found to spy on their users and take screenshots of their online activities, while others may not. full of malware. To stay safe, keep an eye out for some red flags when you sign up for a VPN.
But if you don’t want to commit financially at all, you always can request a refund from your VPN provider and I still watch all the Winter Olympics for free. The Olympics last less than a month, and most VPNs offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. Sure, you have to pay up front, but you can use the VPN for a month, stream the entire Olympics and get your money back from the VPN if you request a refund within its guarantee window. However, I would recommend that you stick with your VPN for a long time because you can use it to unblock all kinds of streaming content throughout the year, plus it’s an important tool to protect your privacy online. In addition to using a VPN, I also recommend that you round out your cybersecurity toolkit with password manager again antivirus software.
