Watch Netflix in two houses? Used to work, now doesn't.

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Geektastic

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#310902 29-Nov-2023 17:47

We have an apartment in Wellington as well as our house in Canterbury.

My wife often uses the apartment when she is working in Wellington and likes to watch Netflix, which we have a legit subscription to. Recently, the TV in the apartment has been throwing her out on the grounds that it is not part of a "household".

As she pointed out, it is one of the subscribers trying to watch in their own property. It suggested that it could send me (as the registered account holder) a code that would allow use of the account when travelling. However no emails with codes are arriving in my email inbox.

Last time she was there - about 6 weeks ago - this was not a problem and everything worked as it always had - she turned on the TV, logged into her profile and watched.

Does anyone know what is going on and how to fix it?

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#3165844 29-Nov-2023 17:51

Netflix thinks your sharing.

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Geektastic

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#3165845 29-Nov-2023 17:53

How do you tell it you aren't? I cannot find any way to do so.

djtOtago

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#3165848 29-Nov-2023 17:56

Have you seen

Using Netflix outside of your home

and Netflix introduces password sharing household controls (geekzone.co.nz)

jonb

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#3165860 29-Nov-2023 18:22

From memory, seems it only likes Smart TVs accessed from one location (multiple smart TVs from same IP address etc). Might be easier to get a Chromecast or similar for watching Netflix at the pied-a-terre, which doesn't (or at least didn't) trigger the sharing algorithm?

BlakJak

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#3166077 29-Nov-2023 22:59

Did you ask Netflix?

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mattwnz

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#3166084 30-Nov-2023 00:57

I have a similar situation, but haven't yet been blocked. According to Netflix help page, this is how you can access from your second home. But IMO it isn't a good way treat your customers, and if you forget to do this once a month, then you end up in a frustrating position.

Second home or frequent travel to the same location

If you have a second home or travel frequently to the same location, follow these steps:

From the main place you watch Netflix, connect to the internet, open the Netflix app or go to Netflix.com on a web browser on your portable device once a month, and stream a TV show or movie for a few seconds to establish a connection.
Then take the same steps when you arrive at your second location to continue watching Netflix without interruption.

LittleGreyCat

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#3166087 30-Nov-2023 02:30

Not clear if the subscriber can move between locations and use one connection, or if the account will support two simultaneous connections from different locations.

nztim

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#3166092 30-Nov-2023 06:16

Run a A Site to Site VPN between the two locations so and have all your netflix traffic go out one connection, then netflix will only see the one public ip for both sites.

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Bluntj

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#3166098 30-Nov-2023 07:31

Geektastic:

We have an apartment in Wellington as well as our house in Canterbury.

My wife often uses the apartment when she is working in Wellington and likes to watch Netflix, which we have a legit subscription to. Recently, the TV in the apartment has been throwing her out on the grounds that it is not part of a "household".

As she pointed out, it is one of the subscribers trying to watch in their own property. It suggested that it could send me (as the registered account holder) a code that would allow use of the account when travelling. However no emails with codes are arriving in my email inbox.

Last time she was there - about 6 weeks ago - this was not a problem and everything worked as it always had - she turned on the TV, logged into her profile and watched.

Does anyone know what is going on and how to fix it?

While you are watching Netflix in Canterbury, you think its legit for your wife to watch it as well in Wellington on a single sub? I do believe this is what Netflix is trying to stop.

Qazzy03

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#3166099 30-Nov-2023 07:36

Bluntj:

While you are watching Netflix in Canterbury, you think its legit for your wife to watch it as well in Wellington on a single sub? I do believe this is what Netflix is trying to stop.

I mean, I do.

However Netflix and may be you don't?

If you wanted to add the Wellington address, according to Nextflix if you are on the stanard plan you can add a member not at the same address.

Standard: NZ$18.49 / month (extra member slots* can be added for NZ$7.99 each / month)

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24926

BlakJak

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#3166103 30-Nov-2023 07:47

But... The wife lives at the same place, just not all the time. Netflix's Imposed limitations are to stop account sharing, not disrupt two people sharing an account who do actually share an address, but not every day.... Agree this is stupid.

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Behodar

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#3166104 30-Nov-2023 07:51

It could (theoretically) even happen within the same physical house. This is a rather contrived example, but imagine that you have two ports activated on your ONT with two different ISPs. TV 1 is connected to ISP 1, TV 2 is connected to ISP 2. I wonder what Netflix support would say when you told them "The TVs are right next to each other but they claim they're not in the same household!" 😁

GV27

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#3166105 30-Nov-2023 07:58

I never liked this as you can have separated families with split living arrangements and an iPad that travels with a kid from parent's house to another week to week.

Bung

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#3166143 30-Nov-2023 08:54

Bluntj:

Do you think that even when they are in the same house that couples routinely watch the same program? Netflix allow 2 streams, I don't think stopping some random sharing the account also means stopping legitimate family use.

kiwiharry

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#3166213 30-Nov-2023 10:04

As per the post by mattwnz, that is what I have been doing and have not had any issues.

I live in Auckland and I also travel a bit for work. Recently I was working in Wellington for just over 1 month. I ensured I logged onto Netflix on my mobile device at home the day before I travelled to Wellington. Was able to use Netflix on the 2 TV's in my hotel room without any issues.

Was there for 25 days then came home for 2 days and back to Wellington again for another 10 days. I made sure I used Netflix at home on my mobile device in those 2 days.

Bit of a pain to remember to do that but, that is the recommended method for people who travel.

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