NBC’s hugely popular celebrity-judged singing competition reality show The Voice returns for its 15th season. Over ten million Americans tune in to watch celebrity judges Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, and other music biz celebs coach talented hopefuls on their way to being crowned winner of the contest. For the first time, this season will feature a fifth coach on the Comeback Stage, a new aspect of the show that will give unsuccessful contestants another chance at joining the main competition.
Owing to the universal popularity of American music styles, The Voice and its stars, have popularity that extends far outside the U.S.A. Regrettably, if you live elsewhere in the world, it’s likely that you will not find The Voice on your television, while U.S. streaming services will be locked out in your region. Fortunately, there’s a way around this problem, and it requires employing the use of a VPN (virtual private network).
Why use a VPN to stream The Voice
Those in the U.S. have multiple choices when it comes to watching or streaming the popular reality show: the television broadcast shown on local affiliates across the country, as well as a few streaming options, including NBC.com, Sling TV, and the NBC app available on the Roku digital media player.
The bad news for Voice fans outside the U.S. is that all of those options are regionally locked. If you attempt to access them you will receive a message telling you that you are out of luck.
However, there is a way to bypass this geo-blocking, and it involves subscribing to a VPN. A VPN allows you to route your internet connection through servers located across the world, making it appear to streaming services and anyone else that you are actually logging on from that country, with the added bonus of encrypting your connection so that no one can spy in on your activity.
By subscribing to a VPN and logging on by a server inside the U.S. you can override the regional lockouts prohibiting you from watching The Voice.
How to stream The Voice online with a VPN
- Subscribe to a good VPN provider with plenty of U.S. server options (five of the best are listed below).
- Download and install their client on your device(s) of choice..
- Clear your browser’s cache so any streaming services or websites have no record of past visits.
- Connect to a server in the United States.
- Head to NBC.com and stream The Voice there, or download Sling TV or the NBC streaming app on your digital media player (Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV, etc.). You will have to purchase a subscription to Sling TV if you haven’t already, but the service comes with dozens of channels and is definitely worth it.
Supported devices
- Typically, the best VPNs offer support for all the major operating systems and platforms, including Windows, MacOS, iOS, Apple TV, Android, Android TV, Fire TV, and Roku. For the latter two, you will need to subscribe to a VPN provider that includes DNS leak protection.
- VPNs support anywhere from 3 to 7 simultaneous connections, depending on which VPN provider you settle on. That means you and your partner can both keep your mobile phones connected at all times, while still leaving at least one extra slot for a computer or digital streaming device.
Best VPNs for streaming The Voice
The explosion of VPN use in recent years has loaded the market with choices, so it can be hard to figure out which one is best for your purposes. Some are best suited to users living in certain countries. For example, ExpressVPN is by far the best VPN to purchase and use if you are currently living in China. Others are tailor-made for streaming HD video, like Hotspot Shield.
Overall, you won’t go wrong with any of the following five options, which, despite their minor differences and price points, are among the best available and excellent for streaming video from remote locations. Check out some of the specific details, and decide which of them is right for you. All will allow you to stream The Voice from around the world at high quality.
ExpressVPN
Our top pick!
- Always evades internet control in the PRC
- Keeps ahead of the Netflix VPN detection algorithm
- Benchmark tests show excellent speed
NordVPN
- More US city locations than its rivals
- Includes malware protection
- No-logs policy
PureVPN
- Excellent client with pre-configured modes for streaming, P2P, privacy
- Kill switch
- Support for wide range of protocols, including OpenVPN
VyprVPN
- Golden Frog, the business behind VyprVPN also runs a gaming platform
- VyprVPN pioneered obfuscation techniques and they have always worked well
- VyprVPN’s no logs policy is confirmed by an independent audit
Hotspot Shield
- Hotspot Shield is one of the fastest VPN services
- Hotspot Shield works well in places, such as China, where privacy rights are not very strong
- The Hotspot Shield VPN offers good protection for P2P