Hulu is blocked from countries outside of the United States and its territories except for its Japanese site. However, you can access Hulu from New Zealand if you use the right trick. You need to change your IP address, but not just any method works. The only method that will help you to stream American television online from this site (and any other) is called a "VPN", or virtual private network.

Setting Up the VPN

Before setting up the network on your computer you need to find the right provider. There are certain things that you need to look for. You have to get signed up for a service with 'VPN servers' in The USA. This is easy, most services offer this. You also need to double check that they allow streaming from TV sites, because some services don't (most do, however).

You can expect to pay between $6 and $20 USD per month for the VPN but the average cost is about $10. This will depend on how long you sign up for. Most often, you'll receive a discounted price for signing up for 1 year in advance. The installation process is very simple. After you have chosen and paid for the service, you are prompted to start the installation process. Some have simplified the service to a single click, while other require that you go through a setup process by following instructions.

Reaping the Benefits

When you get a US IP address through the VPN, there are many benefits. Yes, you can watch Hulu in New Zealand but you can unblock American sites like Netflix, Pandora and Spotify as well. This means that you get the over one thousand television programs from Hulu, over twenty thousand titles from Netflix if you create an account, plus all the music streaming that you want from the other two mentioned site. This is only the start of it. Any American websites that you want to use that requires a US IP is open to you.

Other Information on the VPN

There are a couple of other things that you should know about the VPN. Aside from providing the ability to access American TV streaming sites like Hulu in New Zealand, you can also get better internet service. If you experience local bandwidth throttling normally, using the VPN will prevent this from occurring to you. This normally isn't a problem in New Zealand, but some internet providers have been known (in many countries) to secretly limit bandwidth to certain sites.