River Deep, Mountain High: Blackhawks at Blues
Can I beat NHL blackouts with a free VPN? Using a free VPN might seem like an easy way to stay safe online and stream the NHL abroad, but these services have several major disadvantages. To begin with, they usually have more users than their networks can support. This causes long loading times, choppy video, and sporadic disconnection — three things that you don’t want when watching sports live. Further, NHL. tv and ESPN+ both have strong geo-restriction measures built-in, so there’s no guarantee that a free VPN would even work. How do free VPNs pay for their networks without charging the user directly? You might assume it’s just by inserting ads into the sites you visit, but some go even further.
How to watch St. Louis Blues vs. Chicago Blackhawks on TV
tv or ESPN+ site and login. The NHL even has a handy tool you can use to find out which teams have blackouts in your region. You should find that your content loads almost instantly but if not, don’t panic. Often, once a website has found that you’re not in the correct region, they’ll store this information in your browser and automatically prevent access, even if you’re actually in the appropriate location. To bypass this, try clearing your browser’s cache and deleting your cookies. You can also force a hard refresh by holding the CTRL key (Shift on Mac) and clicking the refresh button. Bypassing NHL blackouts on Android or iOS Bypassing the blackouts on mobile devices is a little trickier due to your device’s geo-location services.
This is the most basic form of geo-location tracking, and can be easily bypassed, which is why most services combine this approach with IP-based geo-location: using your IP address to see roughly where you’re located. Finally, there’s location-based tracking. This is the preferred method for mobile devices since it’s slightly more difficult to spoof your GPS location than change your IP address. You can, of course, turn GPS off, however, some services just won’t let you watch anything without it.
For example, if you live in Toronto, you’ll only be able to watch the Maple Leafs play on the regional broadcast network. For the Maple Leafs, it’s Sportsnet Ontario, but each team has a different local broadcaster. So how can NHL. tv or ESPN tell where you’re located? There are three main ways: firstly, you’ll be asked to enter your ZIP code when registering.
We recommend trying to bypass ESPN and NHL. tv restrictions using your phone’s web browser and a VPN, and avoiding the apps altogether. To watch via either service’s app, you’ll have to turn on location services. This presents a real problem since there’s no easy way to spoof your phone’s GPS location. While there are several apps that allow you to do this, you should note that these require a rooted or jailbroken device. Further, there’s no guarantee that these apps are safe to use; usually, if a free app claims to allow you to “hack” services, it’s just going to infect your system with malware. If spoofing your GPS is something you’re interested in, we’d recommend doing thorough research on any app you install and making yourself aware of the risks involved before you begin.
Chicago Blackhawks - St. Louis Blues: Live Stream & on TV