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How soon you forget. I've been living in California for the past 22 years and it's quite strange to see how much my day-to-day activities have changed. I don't watch a lot of telly, I don't listen to the radio during work too often. Mostly that's because there is a real lack of quality shows in the US that I know about or could find easily. (Even though HBO has been a real bright spot for programmes in the States, it should be said.)
While in England for two weeks over the holidays, I found some great shows on BBC that were quite well done and a lot of entertaining comedy shows. They also had a great service launched called BBC Iplayer, an online accompaniment to BBC channels where all shows and movies are available to watch online after they air. It was great to catch up on some shows and start following new shows that I found.
Now here is the part you might be familiar with. When I came back in the States, I tried loading up BBC IPlayer and-- of course-- it wouldn't work. After some research, I found the reason is because the BBC Iplayer site is blocked for anyone outside the UK. Digging deeper, there are a lot of media and streaming services that are now blocked outside the UK. Here's a partial list:
BBC and other sites currently rely on IP technology to determine who they let access their content. Your IP address (Internet Protocol) is the home address for your computer whenever you go online.
For example, your IP Address is 38.107.179.239 which also tells us which country code you are connecting from (US).
This is how BBC Iplayer content would appear to you:
But there is a simple way around this. Much like in real life where you can get an address forwarding service or Post Office box, you can rent a new address for your computer as well.
The main way of accomplishing this is called a Proxy. A proxy is a website address that you can use to make it appear your computer is really connecting from the proxy's address and not your own. So if you get a proxy based in the UK, the access lock won't affect you.
Most proxy services are used just for a small amount of data transfer, like checking email. However, when trying to stream video content and music, it becomes much tougher to find a proxy connection that works.
The most bulletproof solution to this problem is a program called VPN (Virtual Private Network). Originally, VPN was an office tool used by workers that would allow them to connect securely to their work computer or company network while traveling. Because VPNs also allow for sharing internet connection, if you had access to one based in the UK you would also have a backdoor to unlocking all UK websites and also have the speed necessary for streaming video in good quality.So once you connect to the internet with your UK VPN, your computer IP will be changed and all the websites that once blocked become unblocked.
I've even been able to hook up my laptop to my TV via an HDMI Cable (44 cents US via Amazon) and now we have a great way to watch all this amazing BBC content. Couldn't be happier.