#three DNS redirector, Subscribing to paid services

Alternative #iii: DNS redirector

Although VPNs make up for the all-time region-cracking solution they aren't without their drawbacks. For ane matter, they require a middle man, which can result in speed loss for those with super fast connections. They are also easy to setup on a computer and some mobile devices but not so much if y'all desire to use information technology to road Net traffic from whatever device in your house -- Xbox 360, Apple Idiot box, and whatnot. It's not impossible but yous'll demand to hack your router with custom firmware or purchase a preconfigured 1 to run your network with.

If you don't want to go through all that hassle then DNS redirectors pose an interesting alternative. Basically you'll be able spotter locked content on multiple devices -- even simultaneously -- but by irresolute the DNS server settings on your computer, panel, router, or a number of supported devices.


DNS settings in Windows 7 - you'll need to configure these on each device/player yous want to apply

It's not entirely clear to me how it works (the explanations I've read from these services include the words "magic" and "hugger-mugger sauce") just in a nutshell they create a network tunnel from your location to a remote server unremarkably in the US or UK, so it appears that requests actually originate from those countries.

It's one of the easiest solutions I've come across and it works. The main disadvantage is that information technology simply works for a prepare of supported services and players. The good news is that the list of supported services and players is usually pretty extensive and new ones are added if there's plenty demand for them.

For a gratuitous alternative try Tunlr. It supports close to 30 services, including most of the popular ones similar Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, and BBC iPlayer. Supported players include Mac and Windows computers, every bit well as the Apple tree TV, iPhone, iPad, Android devices, Xbox 360 and PlayStation three consoles. Their service will remain complimentary, they don't log your internet activities, and though it works well they're not aiming to provide a professional 24/vii service. "Tunlr is upward when it'due south up, and is down when information technology's down," reads their FAQ.

For paid services, Unblock-us and UnoDNS are popular choices, and both offer free trials. I've but tried the latter which advertises faster than VPN speeds, no bandwidth caps, 256-scrap encryption, among other things. From my experience it does work quite fast and information technology has a huge list of supported 'channels' offered in a premium ($four.95/mo.) or aureate ($seven.95/mo.) program. They back up many unlike devices and piece of work on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Device specific instructions for each service are available on their respective sites: Tunlr, Unblock-us, UnoDNS.

Subscribing to paid, region-locked streaming services

Any of the alternatives nosotros've presented you lot with will allow you get around region blocks and kickoff streaming content regardless of your geographic location. It should be noted that none of these volition enable free admission to paid content, however. Some services similar Hulu and Spotify offering free, ad-supported tiers in improver to a premium option while others strictly require a paid subscription in order to use them.

Unfortunately, almost -- if not all -- for-pay services too require that the credit card you lot are using to subscribe is issued in the country y'all're spoofing. So even if yous want to pay the monthly subscription for Hulu Plus, for instance, and you lot've gone through the extra effort and expense of setting up a VPN account, y'all however won't exist able to give them your hard earned money. You need to jump through a few more hoops.

A prepaid Entropay virtual card can aid you with that. It's similar a regular Visa except you charge it upfront using your credit carte and can simply spend whatever funds you have available at the moment.

Here is what you demand to practise:

  1. Sign up for an Entropay account and choose the desired currency from the driblet down card in the process (e.g. USD if you need an US-issued bill of fare). Nether Country, enter your bodily country, and so that information technology matches the billing address in file for the card you'll use to fund your Entropay account.

  2. On the next screen fill in the details of the credit carte yous will utilize to fund the virtual Visa card. The charge up fee is iv.95% of the total corporeality and the minimum charge up amount is $xx.

  3. That'southward it! Entropay will generate a virtual prepaid Visa for you to use with the corporeality funded. You'll get a working carte du jour number, death date, name, and security code just like a regular Visa. In some cases Entropay may follow upwards to verify your details by asking for a photograph ID and a credit card statement.

So there you go, you can now admission region locked services and besides pay for a premium subscription with a working Visa. All in all, it will toll you a bit more but your other options are moving to another country or wait it out until content owners decide to join the new millennium and piece of work out international licensing.

It's worth noting that you lot'll notwithstanding demand to enter a valid country-specific physical accost when registering with some services. Normally, any valid address will do, so simply look upwardly a commerce or something and use that.

Lastly, please note that, knowing of this loophole, some services have decided to stop accepting Entropay, then do some research before funding your virtual card. Netflix and Hulu Plus are among those sites, but people accept reported it'southward nonetheless possible to piece of work around that extra hurdle by signing up for a Us Paypal account, linking it up to your Entropay account, and then use Paypal as the payment pick. Easy peasy!

Technicians connecting network cablevision illustration by Shutterstock