What country did you last have issues with? I'll try it out. I use Nord for downloading videos, and it seems that YT have flagged every single Dutch and UK IP I try as a potential bot, restricting access completely without being logged in.

There also seems to be a huge issue where YouTube has recently delisted a significant amount of videos - and I don't mean unlisted or private. I mean they just don't exist through channels or yt-dlp any more. I think YT is killing creators

I've had a VPN on my router for years. Past 2 years have become increasingly difficult. Many websites are blocking them.

I've tried many major providers. Now I'm looking at small non profits offering a VPN, hopefully with better results.

Try something like a Revanced patch for your youtube client on your phone if you haven't already - mine's been chugging along with a VPN for ages

In my experience, Youtube is pretty on their VPN exit node blocking game (but it definitely times out, if you wait a month, you may well see one work again for a while). If you want to VPN youtube, you're best off using a provider with a LOT of exit nodes that come and go.

Not sure. You can use invidious as an alternative to watch the vids.

The free Proton VPN servers have been getting hit for like 3 months now. And they're constantly changing what free server is available to use. The American servers have been shut down plenty of times, but the ones in other parts of the world are working fine, though slower to connect.

Try countries in Southeast Asia and South America. It works fine for me there.