How YOU can use a VPN for FREE to get around Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing

Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing is causing misery for millions of users, but there’s a free way around the new one-household rule.

A popular VPN app offers a service that allows non-paying customers to trick Netflix into thinking they are logging in from the same home as the main account holder.

The technique, known as “tunneling,” allows multiple people to connect from the same IP address (an Internet address used by Netflix to identify where people are coming from).

The Netflix ‘ban’ uses IP addresses and other methods to detect if users share a password. Netflix said, “A Netflix account is for use by one household.”

NordVPN’s ‘Meshnet’ feature makes it appear that users are connecting from the same IP address as someone else (so you can be on a different continent, for example, and appear to be connecting from a friend’s house), and works on devices such as Android TVs.

For example, instead of routing traffic through a VPN server (which changes your IP address to that of the server, and which Netflix tries to block by blocking lists of VPN servers), users can route internet traffic through a TV or laptop At home.

This means that other people connected to the same Meshnet appear to be in the same place.

NordVPN said: “Meshnet allows you to create your own VPN server through your own devices or those of your friends, wherever they are in the world.”

Meshnet is normally used for file sharing or creating a virtual LAN for online games, allowing people to play together even if they are on different continents – but can also be used to connect from a specific IP address wherever you are.

Users can invite up to 10 friends to be part of the ‘family’ and can also send invitations to 50 other friends.

This will allow the “friends” to access the same IP address (which is one of the measures Netflix uses to detect password sharing).

The connection between ‘friends’ is encrypted and allows other devices to share the same IP address – meaning (at least in theory) that Netflix can’t detect that an account is being shared.

DailyMail.com has tested the service and Meshnet works without the need for a paid NordVPN subscription (although you do need to create a free account).

So, here’s how it works:

To use Meshnet, you need to have the NordVPN app installed on the devices you want to use – it works without a paid NordVPN membership.

To enable Meshnet (on Windows devices), enable the NordVPN app and log in if prompted, then toggle the Meshnet switch on the left side of the screen.

Meshnet has guidelines here for other devices, including Android and iOS devices.

When the dialog box appears, select Enable Meshnet.

Within Meshnet, your device is assigned a Nord name and a Meshnet IP address, which you can use to access the device from other linked devices.

To enable traffic routing (which makes devices appear to be coming from the same IP address), select Route traffic and you’ll see a list of devices you can route traffic through.

All devices logged into your NordVPN account can access your Meshnet (thus appearing to be able to access the internet from your TV or laptop).

To add ‘external’ devices, ie devices from another NordVPN account, you can send invites directly from the NordVPN app (select Link devices and then enter the email address).

The invitation appears on all devices that are logged in with meshnet enabled.

Once the person accepts the invitation on a device, their devices become part of your Meshnet.

Meshnet is available on Android, iOS, macOS, Windows and Android TV.

Users can link up to 10 personal and 50 remote devices to their own network.

Netflix said it sent account sharing emails to customers in 103 countries and territories, including the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Australia, Singapore, Mexico and Brazil.

The emails state that a Netflix account may only be used in one household.

Paying customers can add a member away from home for an additional fee: the fee is $8 per month in the US

Netflix said last year it was going to limit account sharing and was testing different approaches in some markets.

The company estimated that more than 100 million households had provided their credentials to friends and family away from home.

At the end of March, Netflix had 232.5 million paying customers worldwide.