Expat Shield is a simple VPN software which allows you to access UK TV websites such as BBC iPlayer and ITV when outside of the UK.

Normally, you can't do this because only users accessing these services within the UK are allowed to do so. However, Expat Shield routes your IP address via a UK IP address as if you were still in the UK wherever you are in the world.

Installation

The installation for Expat Shield is a bit lengthy and you're given the option whether you want to install the Expat Shield toolbar which you can easily reject if you want. When you run Expat Shield, your browser will be automatically opened with a message to indicate whether Expat Shield has connected correctly or not. It usually connects quickly and you're presented with a series of random TV links below which you can ignore.

How to use it

Enter the BBC website address in your browser and select the iPlayer. You should find that surfing is no slower than surfing normally without Expat Shield. Simply select the program you want to watch and the iPlayer starts playing as if you were in the UK. Streaming is fast and stable and you can skip and rewind instantly.

The great thing is, Expat Shield is completely free to use. The only thing you have to put up with is an advertising banner at the top of your browser. You can make this disappear by clicking the "X" box although as soon as you surf another page, the banner will appear again.

Expat Shield doesn't affect surfing of sites outside of the iPlayer but if you do want to deactivate it, you need to double click the shortcut again on your desktop and you'll be taken to the main panel in your browser where you can disconnect from the VPN.

Expat Shield also comes with the added bonus in that it helps to make your tracks anonymous on the internet. So for example, if you use the Google box in your browser to search, Expat Surfer will ask whether you want to enable or disable google tracking your search history and surfing.

There is very little to fault with Expat Shield except that some users have found it sometimes struggles to establish a UK IP address and ends-up assigning a US address (the developer AnchorFree is based in the US) instead although we didn't experience such problems in our tests.

If you want to watch UK TV including BBC and ITV outside of the UK, Expat Surfer is a brilliant free solution.