Want to watch U.S. online video and listen to streaming music from another country? We've found an answer for you, but none for us, yet.
Introduction
If you live outside the United States and are having a problem playing online video from major US websites, you’re probably seeing an error message similar to, “Unfortunately this video is not currently available in your country or region. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
Such location-based restrictions really have two purposes. One is ensuring that the advertising you see is pertinent for your locale. The other, and this may require a leap of faith, is that it cuts down on piracy.
But information wants to be free, and you want to watch videos and hear streaming music from websites in the U.S. Here’s one way to bypass the restrictions.
Fake Them Out
Do this by making it appear that your computer’s location is in the U.S. For this you can try an application called Anchor Free Hotspot Shield.
Its main reason for existence is to provide security and encryption at public hotspots. We’re more interested in a side effect, however. When you connect through Hotspot Shield, as far as the website you’re interested in intercepting is concerned, the request is coming from within U.S. borders.
Hotspot Shield is advertising supported. This means that a banner ad appears at the top of your browser window when you’re using the service. They also have a 5 GB monthly download limit from their service, so resist the urge to go crazy watching episodes of “House.”
Images
That third setup screen says, “After clicking ‘Next' you will be offered additional useful, quality software provided by our reputable partners. Your support of these software offers allows us to provide you with FREE access to our services. All offers we present are 100% optional.”
Let’s see what they are.
Images
A toolbar that changes the default search provider is the only special offer in this version. Vista did have a hiccup when it couldn’t verify the provider, though. The final setup screen launched Hotspot Shield, directly into a Firefox tab, and directly into No-Script’s blocking.
Image
Testing
I opened the page in an IE tab and went to YouTube, where I watched about five minutes of Star Trek: The Original Series – The Enemy Within. There were a few pauses and some jerkiness, but the episode was watchable. The download rate peaked at 1019.6 KB/s and averaged 277.9 KB/s. After the title sequence, the download got ahead of the play progress indicator and things settled down nicely.
Next I tried Hulu.com, and watched some of “The Fifth Element.” The pre-roll advertisement peaked at 866.9 KB/s, and that seemed to be the highest throughput of the first five minutes, too. The download rate averaged 158.5 KB/s.
I also tried listening to some music from Pandora.com, and this was no problem whatsoever.
I am located in the southern U.S. and have no idea how much the throughput might vary in other countries (that probably have faster Internet than I do, anyway), but my first impression is that it works very well.
Next: How It Works, Troubleshooting, and our Conclusion
