6 Best VPNs for iPlayer

The iPlayer is the BBC’s internet television and radio service, which is mainly aimed at letting UK users ‘catch-up’ with the last 7 days of programming (although it is also possible to watch or listen to live broadcasts on it).

Founded in 1922, and still the largest broadcaster in the world, the BBC occupies a unique position in world media thanks to the fact that much of its funding comes from a licence fee that all UK television owners must pay. This not only allows it to broadcast advertisement free programming, but because it is not tied to purely commercial considerations (and because the Royal Charter it operates under requires it), it has built a formidable worldwide reputation for making and broadcasting high quality television and radio programs.

The result is that the iPlayer one of the most desirable internet media streaming services around, which is compounded by the fact that for UK residents the service is absolutely free (although most UK residents do pay the BBC subscription fee). Although BBC Radio shows are free and available everywhere in the world through iPlayer, the full television service is only available to those with a UK IP address (there is also a cut down international service available in 11 European countries).

There are great iPlayer apps for Android and iOS devices

What this does mean is that international fans of the BBC can access the iPlayer for free by spoofing their IP address so that is appears to originate in the UK. While there are number of ways to do this (including DNS spoofing and using proxy servers), VPN remains by far the most popular due to its ease of use and the fact that it useful for many other things, such as internet anonymity, P2P and public WiFi security.
There are any number of VPN providers offering access to the iPlayer through UK based VPN servers, most of which will perform the job perfectly well. Our choice of best VPN for iPlayer is therefore based on other considerations that go towards making what we thing is a great VPN service. One important thing to be aware of is that providers who are actually based in the UK (as opposed to simply maintaining servers there) should be avoided by those concerned by privacy, as they are not only required to log all users internet activity thanks to the EU wide Data Retention Directive, but seem quite happy to hand this information on to government agencies, entertainment industry copyright enforcers and copyright legal trolls at the drop of a hat.

The other thing to note is that the TV streaming service is available in 2 flavours – Standard, which requires a connection speed of around 1.5Mb/s and HD which requires 3.5Mb/s. At peak UK viewing times the service can get very busy, and even here in the UK with a 10Mb/s connection streaming the service direct (i.e. not through a VPN), we occasionally experience bad buffering problems.
The iPlayer is the BBC’s internet television and radio service, which is mainly aimed at letting UK users ‘catch-up’ with the last 7 days of programming (although it is also possible to watch or listen to live broadcasts on it).

Name of the Provider	Website Address
Hide My Ass	Visit Provider
Strong VPN	Visit Provider
Switch VPN	Visit Provider
Pure VPN	Visit Provider
IPVanish VPN	Visit Provider
Hotspot Shield Elite	Visit Provider