With the pandemic still in full swing, it’ll be a slightly unusual event this year. Attendance is expected to be around 25,000, with the rest of the 30,000 capacity being filled with cardboard cut outs of fans. The smart choice if you want to watch it is to stay at home and catch it online or on the TV, although Dr Fauci is advising strongly about the traditional Super Bowl party. Rights to air the game alternate between the three main rights-holders for the NFL – Fox, NBC, and CBS. This year, CBS will host the game on its TV channel, and also stream it for free at CBSSports.com, and on the CBS Sports App. However, if you’re not located in the United States, you might not have so many options to watch the big game – at least, not without paying a premium. The CBS site will identify if you’re accessing it from outside the USA, and will shut down your access to the stream. Bad news if you happen to be out of the country when the big game kicks off. The good news is that technology can come to the rescue, and with a decent VPN, you can follow the game play-by-play, without a hitch. Our top-choice is NordVPN, which takes the trophy with its simple interface, large choice of servers and great value plans. Plus, you just might want to hang onto that VPN afterwards for all the privacy and content access benefits they bring. We explain all you need to know, below. If you’re concerned about your online privacy, then NordVPN could well be the right choice for you. Its data encryption is military-grade, which means that you won’t have to worry about online snoopers as you access the web – a particular comfort if you’re using a public WiFi service. It also has a wide reach, with 3,600 servers across 62 countries, meaning that you’ll never struggle to find a server to route your traffic through. It’s flexible too, with a single subscription allowing you to use NordVPN on up to six different devices.
Risk-free money-back guaranteeExcellent mobile app for iOSLightning-quick connection speedsPacked with useful security featuresExcellent value for money
Couldn’t unblock some streaming services when testedRoughly half of the server network is located in the USAAssumes some technical knowledge for advanced features
One of the key benefits of IPVanish is its excellent speeds. No VPN will be as fast as your connection when you’re not using one, but some handle slowdown better than others, and IPVanish manages to barely dip at all, keeping a consistent speed that won’t impact your use. IPVanish owns and operates 1,000 servers in over 60 countries, and allows peer to peer file-sharing, which some other VPNs actively ban.
Great Savings: Up to 64% OffControls the entirety of its Tier-1 server networkStrong privacy and security featuresDecent speeds
Slightly intimidating user interfaceHasn’t made the switch to RAM serversPriced above some rivals
As well as the usual features you’d expect, PIA also offers PIA Mace, which actively blocks ads and tracking tools that could follow your behaviour and target you with ads. It also had a killswitch, so that should it ever fail, your connection won’t simply fall back to your unprotected ISP access.
Great Savings: Up to 64% OffControls the entirety of its Tier-1 server networkStrong privacy and security featuresDecent speeds
Slightly intimidating user interfaceHasn’t made the switch to RAM serversPriced above some rivals
Yup, most free VPNs have a pretty tight data limit, and that means there’s only so much streaming you can do before you hit the cap. With a big ticket event like the Super Bowl, which you’ll want to watch in HD, don’t expect to make it to the half time show over a free VPN. If you only want to watch the half time show, then you just might get away with a free VPN. Our advice is to make use of a free trial of NordVPN. And hey, you may just like the service enough to stick with it afterwards… The benefits of doing this is that the VPN server hides your real IP address, which is unique to you and used to identify your location, among other things. With a VPN, you can choose which country to route your traffic through. This in turn enables you to access the internet as if you were based in that country. There are several benefits to this, including being able to access content that you would usually be geo-blocked from, including region specific media content (such as Netflix). To watch the Super Bowl, set your VPN to a US server and it will make it seem as though you’re browsing the web stateside. Here’s how: As you’re looking to watch the 2021 Super Bowl via the CBS site, you need to make it look as though you’re located in the United States. How you do this will depend on the VPN you’re using, but usually it will be a simple case of clicking on the region’s flag, or selecting it from a map within the VPN. Now that you’re connected, it’s simply a case of visiting the FoxSports.com site and settling down for the game. In this instance, you don’t need to sign up for an account, so you can jump straight in. However, to access any other US sites or services, you may be required to set up login details. If you don’t want to watch the game with the US commentary, but would rather have the choice of another provider, you can easily switch your VPN to the region of your choice. In the UK, for example, the BBC have the rights to air the 2021 Super Bowl, with its own British commentary. You do, however, need to set up an account with the BBC’s free iPlayer service. If you still need some guidance, head to our user-friendly guide on how to set up a VPN for the first time. When the Super Bowl ends and the last of the confetti has been swept from the field, it’s well worth holding onto your subscription. If you’re a big sports fan, then there’s great coverage across the globe of your favorite teams and games that you could well be missing out on. Fire up a VPN, and you can have instant access to whatever you want, whenever you need. Then there’s streaming content from services such as Netflix, which typically restrict the films and shows you can see dependent on location. This is due to strict licensing agreements which dictate what Netflix is allowed to show in each territory. With a VPN though, this is no longer an issue. Netflix is aware of the VPN workaround, and tries to detect VPNs in use – not all services are successful in accessing Netflix, so check out our guide to the Best VPNs for Netflix. There is also a huge privacy benefit to using a VPN, as they actively hide your activities and data. This means that it’s very hard to snoop on anyone using a VPN, or intercept their data. In real terms, this provides immense peace of mind when using public Wi-Fi, or just don’t want your service provider to keep tabs on you.
