I've been researching all the VPN stuff in light of the prism stuff. In a nutshell a provider will have a bunch of servers in different countries so lets say some video streaming is only available in Canada one could simply fire up their service and pick a Canadian server, etc.. Some provider have more or less and seem to range from 40 to 70 bucks.
Decent review link that also educates on the ins and outs:
http://www.vpnmag.com/
This one is very good as well..maybe even more so as they surveyed serveral vpn outfits and asking the below specific questions.
http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/ (the comments on this article are worth parsing through)
Something to said potentially not going with an American based VPN. I use Avast Internet Security and earlier this year they've baked in their own VPN service for 40 something a year. Don't have a ton of servers but they do have a 7 day trial so I'll give it a test though I will likely not go with them. Been leaning towards IPVanish..one can use for iOS and android as well:
http://www.ipvanish.com/index.php.