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Comment by sph | Hacker News Reader

Of all their features, I love that they have an Android TV app so I can watch F1TV on my couch. They're worth more than the 5 euros I give them per month.

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Aren't OTT streaming services notorious for blocking VPN IP ranges? How is Mullvad getting around those? Surely, they don't buy / lease / steal residential IP addresses [0]?

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9614993

Probably Mullvad is still unknown to most. They're not the one doing the sponsorships on YouTube.

OH MY GOD. I've had to stop watching F1 in Australia because the only app that has licensing is like $27.50 a month and I don't love it that much.

This is a fantastic idea! Thanks mate!

Be aware: I share an account with someone in a country with F1TV.

If you register from abroad and use your credit card, they'll see you're from AU, block your account and you'll have to contact customer services for a refund.

Exclusivity deals are a cancer.

Best bet is to pay via App Store subscriptions instead of a credit card. It obscures the country so you are free to use a VPN without worrying about being banned.

I tried the Android TV App to watch HBO max though (in a different country vs the subscription's host country) and the HBO app did not even load (not even the splash screen). I had no such problems with some other VPN providers (although to be frank some other VPN providers fail in a different way).

Interestingly I tried to watch HBO Max (from a different country) using Mullvad but it failed me. While some other VPN providers succeeded. So it seems it's kind of a hit and miss what works.

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