How to watch American Netflix in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is a former Soviet republic and has come a long way since gaining its freedom. It’s a weird and wonderful place, in a good way. Full of friendly locals, interesting food and a unique way of life. It is a popular stop for Central Asian travelers and if you’re visiting, you’re going to want to know how to watch American Netflix in Kazakhstan.

Local TV is interesting to say the least. It is culturally very different from the US and nothing is in English. Channels are limited and you’re not going to be able to follow much. That’s where streaming comes in. Accessible anywhere with an internet connection, as long as your subscription is in place, you’re good to go. Almost.

Kazakhstan has access to Netflix but you might be disappointed in the local catalog. According to Finder.com, the US Netflix catalog has 1,157 TV shows and 4,593 movies. Kazakhstan has just 327 TV shows and 1,081 movies. That’s not the slimmest catalog in the world, Albania has that honor with just 33 TV shows and 200 movies but that doesn’t help you if you’re in Kazakhstan.

You’re going to need a VPN if you want to watch American Netflix in Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan and VPNs

Kazakhstan is not the freest of countries. The government has clamped down a lot on internet use and uses a range of laws to suppress freedom of speech, political discourse and some news outlets. The National Security Committee has control of some of the broadband infrastructure as well as influence over ISPs.

I would suggest that a VPN is going to be useful in Kazakhstan regardless of whether you’re watching Netflix or not. Many social networks are blocked, some political and news content is blocked and the internet is not very free in the country.

How a VPN lets you watch American Netflix in Kazakhstan

A VPN is a Virtual Private Network. It’s a premium service that can cost just a few dollars a month and can protect all your internet traffic. You install a VPN app onto your device and it will connect to the provider. All traffic that uses that connection will be encrypted and unreadable by anyone.

Choose a US VPN exit node and all your encrypted traffic would be sent from Kazakhstan to the US. It would then be decrypted and sent onto the internet. Part of the decryption process involves giving your traffic a new IP address. In this case a US IP address. This not only gives you a degree of separation so you cannot be traced but also tricks Netflix into thinking you’re in the States. That’s how you get to watch American Netflix.

All of these VPN providers offer stable apps, 256-bit encryption, a wide range of VPN servers and work to keep Netflix accessible anywhere.

ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is a TechJunkie favorite. It has a huge network of over 3,000 VPN servers in 94 countries, including the US. It is fast enough for streaming, is stable, has a great little app that works on most devices and makes short work of connecting. It works almost anywhere in the world too.

NordVPN

NordVPN is another top quality VPN app that provides easy access to a secure internet from anywhere. With over 5,200 servers in 60 countries, it has one of the largest networks around. It is fast, stable and comes with a neat app that is easy to use and manage. It is more expensive than some of these options but has the quality and features to make it worth the investment.

Private Internet Access

Private Internet Access is another firm favorite of ours. It’s cheap, reliable and has a very slick app that connects in seconds. With 3,321 VPN servers in 32 countries, it has quite the reach too. With a reputation for reliability and customer service, that neat app and the ability to keep Netflix available wherever you travel, it’s worth checking out.

VyprVPN

VyprVPN is also worth investigating. It has 700 VPN servers in 70 countries and the innovative Chameleon technology that hides the fact it’s a VPN. This could be useful in countries that fight VPN access. Otherwise the network is fast, reliable and competitively prices so is worthy of its place on this list.

StrongVPN

StrongVPN has changed beyond recognition over the past year or so. Once a mediocre VPN, it has invested hugely in its network and has a new security setup and new brand. It now has 650 VPN servers in 46 locations across the world and seems fast, reliable and better than before.