Roku continues to break ground in the industry of cord-cutting streaming boxes/consoles, acquiring 29 million active users earlier this year.
There’s no further argument needed that Roku will remain a dominating force in the years to come within this industry.
For many interested users, however, the bad news is that a lot of streaming channels on Roku only work within the USA.
The good news is that you can access all geo-restricted channels using ExpressVPN and in this article, I’ll show you how to setup ExpressVPN on Roku.
Installing ExpressVPN on Roku
5 Minutes Review time
However, Roku does not offer native support for ExpressVPN or any other VPN service. Instead, you’ll have to share a VPN-enabled connection from your PC to Roku. Doing so will establish a VPN connection for the Roku device, allowing it to access blocked streaming channels/apps outside the US.
Just follow the steps below to complete the setup process. It will only take you 5 minutes. (these instructions are written for Windows 10 PC)
Your Roku should now be connected to ExpressVPN.
Connecting Roku to ExpressVPN via Physical Router
You can also connect Roku via a physical router with VPN enabled on it. This method is a little more technically involved, so you should only try this if you are experiencing problems with the above method for some reason.
To find out the steps for this method see our article on setting up ExpressVPN on a router.
How ExpressVPN Unblocks Channels on Roku
Streaming services like Hulu, HBO Now etc. are geo-restricted and work only in the US. Any IP address that doesn’t belong to the US is automatically denied access if you try to access these channels abroad.
So, what you need is an effective way to change your IP address virtually and bypass the restrictions from anywhere in the world.
This becomes quite easy to do with ExpressVPN with its quick connectivity to US servers. Connecting to one of these servers will give you a US IP address, so that any streaming app will now work on your Roku without any errors.
For a detailed guide on ExpressVPN, visit our ExpressVPN review page.
Popular Free Streaming Channels for Roku
The great thing about Roku is that it offers a lot of free streaming apps in addition to paid ones. Some popular free ones are:
- Crackle
- Sky News
- Pandora
- PBS Kids
- The Roku Channel
Final Thoughts
Though Roku does not have built-in support for VPN apps, it is still possible to setup ExpressVPN on Roku via your router (physical or virtual). For people living in outside US, this simple one-time process will bring all streaming channels on Roku to your screen, without any annoying geo-restriction errors. However, if you’re still looking for alternatives, you can check out our list of some more VPNs for roku.
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