Accessing IPlayer from the US

[cheekyjay]

A bit of advice plesse

My dad has been living in the US of A for a few years now and is really missing the fact that he can't watch BBC, as Iplayer doesn't work for him over there.

Can't he achieve this by paying for a UK VPN, and accessing the Iplayer through that?

If so, can anyone recommend a good value service? He won't want to pay much, and would only be using it for TV purposes.

Thanks

[m00se]

Just use a uk proxy?

[GroovYF]

A UK-based proxy or VPN server would work.

I was wanting to test such a thing out for my brother who lives in Denmark and therefore is unable to access iPlayer. I simply wanted to know if I could get it working. I did.
I have a Synology DS212J that you can install a VPN server package to. 5 minutes later (and with some port-forwarding on my router) it's up and running and I'm connected to it from my iPhone from work.
I get my brother to login from Denmark on his iPad and fire up iPlayer. Bingo!
it was sucking about 70-90Kb/s of my upload bandwidth whilst he was streaming. Not a real problem when I'm not using the net myself, but I suspect my Apple TV streaming would suffer if he was VPN-ed in and iPlayer-ing at the same time.

So, if your dad wants to fund your purchase of a DS212J and you have reasonable upload bandwidth, bob's your uncle!

[Sid]

GF, can your brother get TV Catch Up too?

[GroovYF]

I assume it'd work, not tried as he can get access to UK-based TV with an app called FilmOn

[Bilb]

All he needs is Unblock-us (CAN$ 4.99 ) and iPlayer.

[EvilGrin]

VPN option would cost you about £6/month. A good VPN provider would allow you to switch the exit node though. So you could also use it for US Netflix for example.

[Spanks]

anyway to do this and get american streamed content?
like comedy central etc?

[Nomad]

find yourself a US proxy

[Bilb]

Unblock-US. I use it to get my UK Netflix subscription to think I'm currently in the US, and offer me that content instead. Also works with Hulu.

A friend in Canada uses it to get his BBC content.

[Spanks]

Awesome ill give that a go.
Hulu and Comedy Central are the ones i was trying to get access to!

[cheekyjay]

Coolio. I'll look into this

[Bilb]

I *think* for Hulu, to get a subscription you have to be extra sneaky and get a US addressed credit card for a subscription. But the Unblock-US will allow you to get to the site and sign-up without worry of IP GeoLocation issues.

[Minty]

Originally Posted by Spanks

anyway to do this and get american streamed content?
like comedy central etc?

Thats actually very easy and free. For Comedy Central content anyway.

1. Download the "Modify Headers" addon. This exists for both Chrome and Firefox, so just google it.

2. Create a new rule with the command "X-Forwarded-For"

3. Add an IP address of 12.13.14.15 (This is a US IP address)

4. With the Chrome addon you need to tick the rule to enable it, whereas with Firefox you need to "start" the addon to turn it on.


Obviously those arent exactly indepth because Im trying to describe how to do this for about 5 different addons and 2 different browsers, but it isnt overly difficult to figure out. Just in case though, heres what it looks like done correctly in Chrome with the "Modheader" extension.



This wont work for things like iplayer or hulu Im afraid and Im not sure about other US broadcasters, but this works for all Comedy Central content.

[Bilb]

Minty ... just tried that, installed the ModHeader same plugin as yourself onto Chrome.

Entered exactly the same details. Went to Comedy Central, and tried to send me back to UK. Tried a video, and "sorry not available in your location".

Restarted Chrome ... same issues.

[EvilGrin]

Originally Posted by Bilb

I *think* for Hulu, to get a subscription you have to be extra sneaky and get a US addressed credit card for a subscription. But the Unblock-US will allow you to get to the site and sign-up without worry of IP GeoLocation issues.

You need a US P.O. Box with mail forwarding (or someone state side to check it for you, which is vastly cheaper, or just send your mail to their house).

https://www.usps.com/manage/get-a-po-box.htm
https://www.usps.com/manage/forward-mail.htm

You then need a pre-pay Credit Card tied to this PO Box address.

Which leaves you with a US Address/ZIP + associated CC. Along with a US IP address (see prior posts) The world of internet TV is now your oyster (apart from iplayer obviously). This doesn't work for some other things though as you'll get asked for your social security number, and not being a US citizen/resident you wont have one.

[Minty]

Originally Posted by Bilb

Minty ... just tried that, installed the ModHeader same plugin as yourself onto Chrome.

Entered exactly the same details. Went to Comedy Central, and tried to send me back to UK. Tried a video, and "sorry not available in your location".

Restarted Chrome ... same issues.

Make sure you have ticked the box as shown in the screenie, thats what enables or disables the header mod. I can assure you that this works as Ive been using this for the past 4 years to watch The Daily Show.

[Bilb]

Still no cigar.

[Minty]

Worked fine for me for the past 4+ years, in 2 different browsers and with different extensions, so I dunno what to tell you. Is the Modheaders extension definitely enabled in the extensions menu?

[Sid]

Originally Posted by Bilb

Unblock-US. I use it to get my UK Netflix subscription to think I'm currently in the US, and offer me that content instead. Also works with Hulu.

A friend in Canada uses it to get his BBC content.

For Netflix you can turn the VPN off after the show has started and it still works

[Spazwankle]

Aye as Minty says, check Modify Headers is activated. I think by default it's deactivated when you install (I think I had to do something similar when I installed a new version recently)

If you get it running, works a treat.

[DoZ]

Netflix UK doesn't have dog the bounty hunter episodes to stream, but I think the US one does. So the better half can watch that relatively cheaply if so using a VPN+netflix?

[Bilb]

Netflix = £5.99
Unlock-US= £3.50ish

[Bilb]

Originally Posted by Minty

Worked fine for me for the past 4+ years, in 2 different browsers and with different extensions, so I dunno what to tell you. Is the Modheaders extension definitely enabled in the extensions menu?

Originally Posted by Spazwankle

Aye as Minty says, check Modify Headers is activated. I think by default it's deactivated when you install (I think I had to do something similar when I installed a new version recently)

If you get it running, works a treat.

Just disabled and re-enabled. Settings seem exactly the same. No worries. Thanks.

[DoZ]

Awesomesaucesome