How to Unblock Porn Websites in North Carolina in 2024

If you’re in North Carolina and blocked from adult websites due to new laws, there’s a lifeline. In this essential guide, we explain how legal adults can unblock porn websites in North Carolina with privacy and security. We will also introduce you to four VPNs that can help you get around those pesky age verification requirements for easy access to your favorite adult websites.

Key Takeaways

• North Carolina law now requires age verification for porn websites, resulting in hassles and serious privacy issues, as well as prompting some adult websites to block North Carolina residents altogether.
• A VPN will hide your IP address and location, giving you privacy and security when visiting adult websites from North Carolina. Additionally, a VPN will allow you to encrypt your traffic through a VPN server and appear to be located in another state or country, thereby giving you instant access to porn websites from anywhere.
• Based on our testing, the best VPN for unblocking porn websites in North Carolina is NordVPN due to its strong encryption, no-logs policy, and ability to overcome geo-restrictions with a global server network. Right now it’s available at a 74% discount.

Navigating the New Age Verification Laws in North Carolina

The onset of the ‘Pornography Age Verification Enforcement Act’ has ushered in a new era for internet users in North Carolina. Under this act, porn websites, including porn sites and adult sites, are now required to implement age verification to ensure that users are over 18 before granting access.

Previously, adults in North Carolina could go to an adult website and start viewing content immediately. Today, you are more likely to encounter verification requirements that not only violate your privacy and put your personal data at risk.

Aside from being a hassle, these screens pose significant privacy risks. For this one you need to either agree to a scan of your face, or of your ID. In either case, you are forced to give personal information to some website and hope that they will not misuse it, share it with others, or lose it in a hack of their database.

The law tries to ensure that your personal data is handled properly, but you still end up having to trust one or more adult websites to protect some of your most important personal information. Even if you don’t mind the added hassle of age verification, the potential privacy issues are scary.

As the new law’s impact reverberates across the state, it’s essential to examine solutions that reconcile the law’s intention with adults’ rights to freely access content. This is where the judicious use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) comes into play, offering a pathway to content that has become difficult to reach without sharing your personal information.

How a VPN Gets You Around Age Verification Screens

To understand how a VPN can get you around these obstacles, you need to understand how an adult website knows where you are located.

When you connect device to the internet, that device is assigned an IP address. An IP address holds various types of information, including some basic addressing information. A website can look at your IP address and compare it against a list of the IP addresses assigned to devices that are physically located in North Carolina.

VPNs like those we are going to discuss in this article consist of a network of thousands of VPN servers located in a significant percentage of all the countries on Earth. That’s impressive, but how does it help you visit your favorite porn site without getting hassled?

When you use a VPN, your device no longer connects directly to a website. Instead, your device connects to a VPN server, and the VPN server connects to the website for you. As a result of that technological trickery, your IP address is replaced by the IP address of the VPN server. As far as the website can tell, you are physically located wherever the VPN server is located, instead of in North Carolina. And there is the secret to getting around the North Carolina blockage. Use a VPN and connect to a VPN server in a location where there are no age verification laws.

This ability to make websites think you are located somewhere else is a basic ability of VPNs. But there is a bit more to this story. There are several other characteristics that make a VPN one of the best VPNs for unblocking porn sites from North Carolina or anywhere else. We will cover those additional characteristics in a bit. Right now I would like to introduce you to best VPN for North Carolina residents who want to view porn, NordVPN.

NordVPN: Best VPN to access adult content safely from North Carolina

NordVPN has earned its place as the best VPN for porn viewers in North Carolina. It is a private, fast, and secure VPN service that you can rely on to give you access to Pornhub and other adult sites without the hassles and privacy risks of constant age verification. But NordVPN is not just a way to view porn. In most of our VPN tests, NordVPN ranks in the first or second position. I consider it the best VPN available today, although Surfshark is stepping on NordVPN’s heels in almost every area.

In the following NordVPN image, the green dot shows that I am logged into a NordVPN server located in New York. We’ll talk about why I am using a NordVPN server in New York instead of one in North Carolina a bit later. Right now, the important thing to see is that NordVPN offers a clean, attractive user interface.

You can select NordVPN servers from various lists, or you can simply click on a blue dot to connect to a server at that location. You can’t tell from looking at this image, but the NordVPN app does include a map of the entire world with blue dots scattered across the 100+ countries where NordVPN has servers. Most NordVPN apps have an interface that is very similar to this one, making it easy to use NordVPN on most any internet-connected device you might have.

NordVPN has a huge feature set, providing all the basics needed for viewing adult sites, as well as advanced features that cover most any VPN use case. Even more impressive, our testing shows that NordVPN ranks at or near the top in every category, from streaming video to blocking ads to providing dedicated IP addresses for the special situations where this is necessary.

Here are just some of our comparison guides where testing showed that NordVPN is one of the best VPNs for that particular use:

• Best VPNs for Streaming
• Best VPNs with WireGuard support
• Best No-Logs VPNs
• Best VPNs with Ad-Blocking
• Best VPNs for Netflix
• Best VPNs for Gaming
• Best VPNs with Dedicated IP

How does NordVPN make it onto so many “best VPN” lists? The core VPN service is excellent. It contains over 6,400 fast VPN servers spread across 111 countries. That includes 16 server locations in the United States. Every one of those servers is diskless and has high-speed interconnections to other servers in the network. All NordVPN servers also support the WireGuard VPN protocol, a new-generation VPN protocol that is faster and more secure than previous protocols.

When we say NordVPN is fast, we mean it. It has produced the second fastest speed test result ever recorded in our high-speed test facility:

NordVPN’s speed and huge network of servers make it ideal for more than watching porn. as you saw in the list earlier, NordVPN is one of the best VPNs for streaming all sorts of content from all over the world. Much of the best content on the internet is geo-blocked. This means it is only available in certain regions, with access blocked for anyone outside the “correct” geographic region.

For example, there are many interesting series available through BBC iPlayer. But if you are not in the UK, the BBC won’t let you see it. That is, you can’t see it unless you are using a VPN like NordVPN. In the image below, we are viewing content on BBC iPlayer from our lab in the United States. We can do this because NordVPN has servers in the UK. Since we are connected to a UK server, we can use BBC iPlayer. (Step-by-step instructions can be found in our guide on the best VPNs for BBC iPlayer.)

To ensure your privacy when using the service, NordVPN has a no-logs policy that has been audited four times (so far) by qualified outside auditors such as Deloitte. Combine this with the fact that NordVPN is based in Panama, a country that respects online privacy, and you can be confident that your online activities remain private.

NordVPN’s network is large enough to support a variety of specialized VPN servers that boost its performance on specific types of tasks. Beyond just unblocking porn websites in North Carolina, NordVPN offers some advanced servers for different use cases:

• Double VPN servers
• Onion over VPN servers – Combine the benefits of NordVPN with the privacy benefits of Tor.
• Obfuscated servers – Ideal if you need a VPN for China or other restricted networks.
• Dedicated IP servers

See all NordVPN features here >

Other features and capabilities that make NordVPN ideal for many different uses include:

• Quality VPN apps.
• VPN kill switches.
• Split tunneling.
• Private DNS servers.
• Ad Blocking. Threat Protection is NordVPN’s integrated ad, tracker, and malware defense. Constantly evolving and gaining new features, Threat Protection provides you with a shield against the many and varied threats that exist on the internet. It is particularly important to have this feature active if you visit adult websites.

How to Choose the Right Server Location for North Carolina Residents

Now that you know about NordVPN, let’s talk about how to choose the right VPN server location to circumvent the North Carolina age verification requirements. In the example earlier, I showed you that I had connected to a NordVPN server location in New York, instead of North Carolina. Here’s why:

• Connecting to a VPN server in North Carolina doesn’t get you around the blockade. Because a VPN server in North Carolina will have an IP address associated with North Carolina, websites would still subject you to age verification. At the time of this article, New York did not have an age verification requirement. Connecting to an adult website using a New York VPN server gets you outside the North Carolina law.
• While you can get the same result using any VPN server location that does not have an age verification requirement, how far away that location is does make a difference. In general, the further away a VPN server is from your current location, the slower the connection will be. The dots in the map below show NordVPN server locations in the USA. For easy reference, I’ve colored the state of North Carolina grey.

From the map you can see that there are server locations in Georgia and Virginia that are closer to parts of North Carolina than New York is. But Georgia and Virginia have their own age verification rules, so connecting to those location wouldn’t do you any good.

What if New York starts in with the age verification requirements too? Then you will need to try different locations until you find one that works. An alternative would be to contact the NordVPN live chat support line and ask them where you should connect. They can walk you through the process and get you connected within minutes.

But with 6,400+ servers in 111 countries, you can be confident that NordVPN will always you give you easy access to porn websites, no matter where you happen to be located.

See NordVPN server network stats here >

NordVPN is the Obvious Choice

As you can see, NordVPN is an excellent option for North Carolina residents who want to get around those pesky age verification demands. We heartily recommend you give it a try today. And don’t forget that 24/7 live chat support line we just talked about. We have spoken with their support team numerous times over the years and have been impressed with their quality and professionalism.

We’ve also been impressed with NordVPN’s price. This high-quality, high-performance, feature-rich VPN is priced low enough that it can qualify for our list of the best cheap VPNs! The Standard subscription plan offers substantial savings, with massive discounts on a 2-year term, plus an additional 3 months free. And we have confirmed that even the least expensive NordVPN works flawlessly for connecting to adult websites.

Learn more about the full capabilities of this service in our comprehensive NordVPN review. See how it stacks up against other VPNs for visiting adult sites in our guide to the best VPNs for Porn.

---

Features to Look for in a VPN for North Carolina Adult Site Visitors

In the NordVPN section we touched on some of the features you should look for in a good porn-viewing VPN for North Carolina residents. Instead of describing each of the types of features over and over again as we look at the other VPNs, let’s cover the various features in some detail all at once here. Then we’ll list the relevant ones in the short VPN descriptions that follow.

Special VPN server types:

• Double VPN servers. These servers pass your internet traffic through two VPN servers in sequence so your data is encrypted twice and your IP address is changed twice. They provide additional security and privacy for times when you need the greatest protection available.
• Onion over VPN servers. Combine the benefits of a with the privacy benefits of Tor. Provides additional privacy at the cost of a significantly slower connection.
• Obfuscated servers. These servers disguise your VPN traffic to hide it from internet censors. They typically make your VPN traffic look like HTTPS traffic. Most websites use HTTPS, so VPN traffic made to look like that becomes invisible to censors. Obfuscated servers typically require you to switch to the OpenVPN protocol.
• Dedicated IP servers. Provide a fixed IP address dedicated to your sole use. Using a standard shared IP server offers several benefits, but there are situations where you need a fixed IP address that is not shared with others. These usually require you to select the OpenVPN protocol, which could impact the speed of your connection. Dedicated IP servers are normally available at an additional monthly cost above and beyond the cost of the VPN subscription.

Additional important features:

• Quality VPN apps. It is possible to set up a device to connect to a VPN server manually, but it is a slow and error-prone process. Ideally the VPN you choose will provide high-quality, attractive, easy-to-use VPN apps for the devices you use.
• Strong encryption. For your internet traffic to be secure, your VPN protocols must use strong encryption. All of the VPN protocols discussed here use AES-256 or ChaCha20, both of which are extremely strong.
• Secure VPN protocols. VPN protocols control how your internet traffic gets encrypted and transferred between your device and a VPN server. All the VPNs discussed here support the OpenVPN protocol, and either the WireGuard VPN protocol or the Lightway protocol. All three are secure, with WireGuard and Lightway considered to be a somewhat more secure than OpenVPN.
• No-logs VPN policy audited by a third party. The best VPNs have no-logs policies to protect your privacy. But there have been several cases where a VPN claiming not to log user activities did anyway. An audit by a reputable outside source such as Deloitte, KPMG, or Cure53 ensures that the VPN complies with its no-logs policy.
• VPN kill switches. Ideally these are built into every app a VPN provides. Kill switches cut your device’s connection to the internet if there is a problem with the connection to the VPN server. This ensures that your IP address is not exposed due to a connection problem.
• Private DNS servers. These prevent your ISP (Internet Service Provider) from tracking which websites you visit, an activity that is legal in the United States.
• Split tunneling. This feature lets you control which parts of your internet traffic pass through the VPN and which go direct to the internet.
• Fast connection speeds. Regardless of the other features and capabilities a VPN might possess, if it is too slow to stream HD-quality video to your devices, it will not be suitable for viewing adult content.

We’ve done extensive testing on the leading VPNs available today. From those test, we pulled out the four best VPNs for viewing porn in North Carolina. You’ve already met NordVPN. Let’s talk about the other three and wrap this thing up.

Additional Reliable VPN Services: Surfshark, ExpressVPN, and IPVanish

Even though NordVPN is an excellent choice, other VPN alternatives are worth your consideration. For North Carolina residents looking to sidestep the new legal barriers, Surfshark, ExpressVPN, and IPVanish present a trio of reliable VPN services, each with its unique flair. These services not only allow access to adult websites but also come with a suite of features designed to enhance the user experience.

Surfshark: Speed, Advanced Features, and Unlimited Simultaneous Connections

Surfshark is similar to NordVPN in many ways, and it’s also a great VPN to access porn websites. It is fast, secure, private, and uses the WireGuard protocol for impressive performance. It offers a wide range of specialized VPN servers, as well as advanced features galore. You’ll find that Surfshark has all the key features and server types we want to see:

• Quality VPN apps like this:

• Strong encryption
• Secure VPN protocols
• Audited no-logs policy
• Kill switches
• Private DNS
• Bypasser (Split tunneling)
• Fast connection speeds, like this:

• MultiHop (Double VPN) servers
• Camouflage Mode (Obfuscated) servers
• Dedicated IP servers

Like NordVPN, Surfshark has a large network with servers spread across the world. This means you can easily unblock porn websites from North Carolina or anywhere else.

The Surfshark network consists of over 3,200 VPN servers spread across 100 countries. That includes Surfshark servers in 22 US cities. This large set of secure diskless servers has those specialty servers listed above, along with a full set or P2P servers that make this one of the best VPNs for torrenting and other P2P activities. You can learn more about these uses in our Surfshark for Torrenting guide.

Surfshark’s CleanWeb ad-blocking feature is another great feature. While not quite as impressive as NordVPN’s Threat Manager, Surfshark CleanWeb still ranks as one of the best ad, tracker, and malware blockers included in any VPN.

Surfshark also has unique features like Dynamic MultiHop, where you decide which VPN servers should be included in the MultiHop connection, and Rotating IP, which continually changes the IP address the VPN presents to the world when you are connected.

While you may never have a need for those specific features, here’s one that you’ll like. Surfshark supports unlimited simultaneous connections. This means that you can install Surfshark on all the computers and phones and Smart TV devices you own, without worrying about who is doing what on the internet when. Most VPN services limit you to 5 or 6 simultaneous connections (NordVPN allows 10). With those services you can end up with more stuff trying to connect than your VPN subscription will allow.

Like NordVPN and ProtonVPN, Surfshark offers 24/7 live chat support, along with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

If you have a houseful of techies wired up to the internet, or just want a high quality, high-performance VPN at a rock bottom price, Surfshark deserves your attention. You can try it for the lowest price available using this coupon:

You can find more information about this quality VPN service in our updated Surfshark VPN review.

---

ExpressVPN: Simplicity and Reliability for Surfing Adult Sites

With ExpressVPN we are taking a slightly different tack. Surfshark and NordVPN are feature packed services with lots of options to handle virtually any situation. ExpressVPN goes for simplicity and reliability over advanced capabilities.

We’re not saying that ExpressVPN is inadequate or anything like that. This is a high-quality VPN service that sticks with the basics. If you are trying to get around North Carolina’s age verification laws, you don’t need anything fancy. You need a reliable VPN that can get around adult site geo-blocking and is fast enough to stream the videos you find there. ExpressVPN easily handles those tasks.

This service is equipped with thousands of fast, diskless VPN servers spread across 105 countries. Perhaps more important for today is that they have 24 VPN server locations across the United States, meaning you have plenty of options for evading blocks without having to use a faraway server location. You can be sure that your privacy and security are protected when you are using ExpressVPN since it is equipped with reliable components, including:

• Kill switches
• Private DNS servers
• Strong encryption
• Reliable, simple VPN apps
• Secure VPN protocols (including their custom Lightway protocol)
• Sufficient download speeds

In some ways this last item is unfair to ExpressVPN. Compared to the majority of VPN services on the market, ExpressVPN is a speed demon. Here is its best recent speed test result:

A result like this puts them comfortably ahead of the typical VPN service. Unfortunately for ExpressVPN, they are not competing against the typical VPN service today. IPVanish, NordVPN, and Surfshark currently hold the #1, #2, and #3 positions in our testing of the fastest VPNs.

Even though ExpressVPN (usually) gets trounced in speed tests against today’s competitors, it is certainly fast enough to get the job done. For example, here is ExpressVPN streaming Netflix HD video without problems:

ExpressVPN also does a good job of creating VPN apps for a wide variety of devices. That means ExpressVPN users can view their adult content on all the usual devices, while at the same time serving as a top VPN for PS5 and similar gaming consoles. They even have a VPN app for Roku.

ExpressVPN also goes to extremes when it comes to ensuring that the VPN functions properly. They conduct frequent audits of every aspect of the service, including multiple third-party audits of their no-logs policy. In this they go even further than top competitors like NordVPN or Mullvad.

In truth, when it comes to unblocking adult content, the biggest drawback of ExpressVPN isn’t technical; it is price. NordVPN is the most expensive VPN service in this roundup. Whether or not that is a problem depends on what you are looking for. If simplicity and reliability when viewing porn are your top priorities, then ExpressVPN could well be worth the extra dollars to you.

Like the other VPNs here today, ExpressVPN provides 24/7 live chat support and a 30-day money back guarantee so you can try ExpressVPN with no risk. Click the button below for the best pricing on ExpressVPN.

See why ExpressVPN has long been one of the leading VPN providers in this general ExpressVPN review.

---

IPVanish: Reliable VPN for unblocking porn sites in North Carolina

IPVanish is last, but not least in this list. It is a good VPN in its own right. And it combines some of the best features of each of the others. It is like Surfshark in that it is a quality VPN with a cheap VPN price that still allows for unlimited simultaneous connections. It is like ExpressVPN in its focus on simplicity and ease of use. It is like NordVPN in that it is extremely fast, at least some of the time.

That isn’t to say that IPVanish is simply a mishmash of parts copied from other services. For example, it was one of the first VPN services to support Apple TV. So it moves to the front of the pack if you need a VPN for Apple TV for visiting adult websites without hassles.

But let’s get back to the whole speed thing. IPVanish recently turned in the fastest test result ever recorded in our lab, eclipsing the former record (held by NordVPN) by about 10%:

But IPVanish also turned in one of the slowest results recorded by any of these four services during recent testing. On that test, ExpressVPN was more than 10% faster than IPVanish. What this tells us is that anyone who wants the best speed from their VPN should take advantage of IPVanish’s 30-day money-back guarantee and test it the exact way they would use it.

IPVanish now offers more than 2,400 servers across 55 countries, which is not as many as some competitors like CyberGhost and NordVPN. Amongst their 90 total VPN server locations, 20 of those locations are in the USA, giving you plenty of locations that should be outside of any age verification jurisdictions. Throw in their audited no-logs policy, simple apps equipped with kill switches, private DNS servers and you could easily decide that this is the VPN for you.

And don’t forget that IPVanish gives you unlimited simultaneous connections and the performance you need to safely and happily visit the sites you want to visit. Note that IPVanish is the only service in this roundup that is based in the United States. In the past we might have ruled out IPVanish just for that. But now, with their audited no-logs policy in force, IPVanish seems safe enough.

Get the full story on this service in our recent IPVanish VPN review.

---

Summary

As we navigate the changing landscape of internet freedom, VPNs like NordVPN, Surfshark, ExpressVPN, and IPVanish offer a lifeline for adults in North Carolina who want access to adult content without having to surrender important personal information in exchange. While all four of the VPNs covered here can help you unblocked geo-blocked adult content, NordVPN is the overall winner here. Give it a try and enjoy the freedom.

Related articles on RestorePrivacy:

• Best VPNs for Porn
• Best VPNs for Pornhub
• How to Unblock Porn Websites
• How to Unblock Porn Websites in Florida
• How to Unblock Porn Websites in Indiana
• How to Unblock Porn Websites in Louisiana
• How to Unblock Porn Websites in North Carolina
• How to Unblock Porn Websites in Texas

Frequently Asked Questions

Why were adult platforms like Pornhub blocked in North Carolina?

Adult platforms like Pornhub were blocked in North Carolina due to the ‘Pornography Age Verification Enforcement Act’, which aims to protect children and address privacy concerns related to age verification.

Can NordVPN really keep my online activities private?

Yes, NordVPN can keep your online activities private by using strong encryption and secure VPN algorithms, along with a verified no-logs policy, making it difficult for ISPs and other entities to trace your actions.

How many devices can I connect with Surfshark?

You can connect an unlimited number of devices with Surfshark, making it ideal for households with multiple devices. Note that IPVanish also supports unlimited simultaneous connections.

This guide to unblocking porn in North Carolina was last updated on June 21, 2024.