Based on the recommendations from Troypoint.com I purchased the 2 year plan with SurfShark. All of the sudden I can’t stream or download anything while connected to SurfShark! Yet when I connect to IPVanish the streaming and downloading work as it should. I contacted SurfShark and I am told "I’m sorry to say that, but this streaming service is currently not available with Surfshark. But no need to worry!
We are constantly expanding our service and I will forward your request to our tech team so we might be able to make this available for you in the future!
IPTV service isn’t officially unlocked/supported and is not guaranteed to work. I could still provide some troubleshooting steps, however, I have to inform you that the service may not work before any troubleshooting is started."
Did I just waste $95 going to SurfShark instead of staying with IPVanish?
SurfShark gave me new suggestions that didn’t work so I am cancelling and getting a refund. I will stick with IPVanish! Thank you everyone on here for your suggestions and your experiences with SurfShark!!
VPNs aren’t going to admit their VPN works and is used for unverified IPTV. They gave you the “politically correct” answer. While I admit I had some Surfshark issues, it was still usable and protected my privacy, and is nothing like you describe above. My biggest disappointment is that SS has turned into anything but a “set it and forget it” type of VPN, it takes a decent effort to keep the speed via the proper locations and settings, etc. I still use it on a couple devices and my mobile phone, and it is fine and the ad blocker is nice. If IPVanish works better for you, by all means go back to it…hoping the SS was purchased under 30 days ago?
Did you give surfshark a breakdown of the system you’re using, your internet service, router, are using fire stick what are you using for a streaming device what apps are you utilizing. If you ask any more questions on this website we would also need to know the same information. Oh I forgot make sure you do a research on the search engine of this website and also Google search.
I have had a similar experience with SurfShark when using 2 of my 4 unverified IPTV Services. As with X243, SurfShark support initially replied “Right off the bat, I’d like to inform you that IPTV isn’t officially unlocked/supported and is not guaranteed to work with Surfshark”. However, we worked together over the period of a week exploring potential solutions but never resolved the fundamental connection issues.
Spectrum cable is my ISP for all test variations. For the testing matrix, I varied a number of parameters suggested by SurfShark tech support as shown below:
3 Streaming devices: Buzz TV X5 128GB; Mecool KM2 Android TV box; and Onn Google TV box
3 different VPNs: SurfShark, Express VPN, and Proton FREE VPN
4 unverified IPTV Services: 2 replacement candidate IPTV services (to replace my primary service that recently went offline) and 2 current IPTV services (services that have been working well with SurfShark for over a year)
2 IPTV Services with issues were setup with both Xtream Code and M3U stream types
3 Live TV apps: Buzz TV 5 built-in Live TV app on X5, TiviMate, and the dedicated IPTV app for the 2 new candidate services (both seem highly regarded by Patrons on Troypoint Insider IPTV Services blog)
3 DNS Servers: Cloudflare DNS, Open DNS, and SurfShark setup directly on Router
Different SurfShark Server Locations: Charlotte US; Ashburn US; Netherlands; and Norway
Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections to internet – Buzz and Mecool both ways; and Onn wi-fi only
Conclusion from 2 weeks of testing: SurfShark worked well on all 3 media streaming devices and for 2 of my current IPTV services AND all streaming apps (including Syncler, Stremio, Kodi, FilmPlus, Prime Video, etc.) EXCEPT FOR the 2 “replacement candidate” IPTV services.
These 2 IPTV services “occasionally” worked (connected and displayed programming) with SurfShark’s Netherlands and Norway servers, but not with any other combination of device, app, or settings parameters listed above. However, these 2 IPTV services always performed just fine with Express VPN and Proton FREE VPN on all 3 streaming devices using all 3 Live TV apps listed above. SurfShark’s “CleanWeb” feature is a big positive in blocking ads when using non-Live TV apps.
Using SurfShark with these 2 “replacement candidate” IPTV services most often resulted in a black screen (no video or audio but sometimes just the EPG), constant buffering or freezing, or errors such as (1) Cannot Load Portal: Forbidden; (2) Login Failed; and (3) Error Code 403.
The 2 problematic IPTV services Tech Support both noted that their users have RECENTLY been reporting issues with SurfShark and suggested trying a different VPN or the Netherlands servers.
I still use SurfShark for 2 of my IPTV Services and all other streaming apps. I went ahead and got a 1 year license for Express VPN to use with the “new” IPTV Services which I really like. I am hoping that over the next year, either Express VPN will add an Ad Blocking feature, or SurfShark will resolve the connection issues with at least a subset of their IPTV users.
Im having rhe same problems with surfshark and amazon 4k firestick i use kodi with build and 99% of the time it wont load content paly movies turn off surfshark and it play fine never had this problem with express vpn i will be switching back
