Not everyone has embraced the concept of an ‘open internet,’ and it’s very unlikely that it will happen anytime soon. So here are three ways to bypass geo-blocks and get access to the locked content.
The internet as a whole isn’t tied to any one location or country. It’s available everywhere, contains information about virtually anything, and connects people from every corner of the world together. So it’s hard to imagine that the digital world wide web could be subject to arbitrary boundaries like geo-restrictions.
Yet, that’s exactly the case with most online content services like video-sharing websites, movie streaming services, and music streaming platforms. Some or all of the content on these types of platforms is frequently off-limits depending on where a person lives or connects to the internet.
What is Geo-Blocking and Why Does it Work?
Geo-blocking (also known as geo-restriction) is the act of blocking content off for some users based on their physical, real-world locations.
Corporations and multinational companies like to use copyright and licensing laws to section the world off for profit. This way, they get to monopolize their content in certain areas and charge extra according to different regions. Sometimes, governments step in to restrict certain content too.
Websites look at the IP address of a user to determine whether they get access to content and how much they pay. For instance, Hulu isn’t available outside the US. Meanwhile, Netflix is available in certain countries but the content library changes depending on the region.
In both these cases, geo-blocking is hard at work keeping people out of the content they want to see. This happens whether someone is at home, at work, or on vacation in another country – since an IP address is assigned to a network and not the individual person.
How to Access Geo-Blocked Content
Thankfully, there are ways to get around these annoying regulations. Since websites look at a person’s IP address to determine where they are, the best workaround is to hide it. And it’s not as hard as it sounds. Here are three ways to get around geo-blocks:
Using a Proxy
A proxy service regulates network traffic through a separate server that replaces the IP address of the user with the server’s address. Basically, they act as an intermediary between the user and the website they want to connect to. A lot of people use proxy servers because they’re easy to use and can provide them with access to content from any country.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that streaming anything through a proxy server can lead to buffering and slow speeds. That’s because proxy servers usually have bandwidth limitations in place that slow connections down. This is especially true of free proxies (which most of them are) that have limited resources and are jam-packed with users.
Using a VPN
VPN services are a lot like proxies in the sense that they send the connection through their own servers. This once again hides a person’s real IP address and replaces it with a new one based on which country the server is located in. So when someone connects to a VPN server, to it will look as if they are connecting from whatever country that person chooses.
The biggest difference between a VPN and a proxy (and also what makes them so popular) is how secure they are. VPN services make use of strong encryption to protect users from being targeted by ISPs, governments, or hackers. Proxies and DNS services, however, do not make any attempts to protect users and leave them wide open for various types of attacks.
That said, any Pakistani who is looking for a good VPN should ideally look at providers who have Indian VPN servers. This won’t slow down the connection speed as much. Choosing VPN servers that are farther away, such as in the US or Australia, will result in slower streaming speeds and occasional buffering. But they will provide a larger supply of content, so it is a give and take situation.
Using a Smart DNS
Websites use various tools to discover a user’s location through their IP address. One of the things an IP address contains is a DNS, which holds information like a person’s location that websites then see. A smart DNS server overcomes that issue by masking a network’s DNS address. This won’t hide a person’s IP address, but it does keep others from discovering their location by changing the DNS info to a different location.
Moreover, a smart DNS also checks every connection request and replaces any data that could reveal a person’s real location. For those looking to access content in specific regions, it can replace a user’s location to one that’s accepted by the platform or service they’re using.
Summary
Geo-blocks can be a big pain, but people can get around them. Using geo-blocking methods isn’t technically illegal, but it is frowned upon. So some DNS, proxy, and VPN servers are occasionally blocked by popular services. To get around this, just try out different servers until one gets through.
