| reply to jfmezei
Re: Anyone using Unblock-us? said by jfmezei:Later, they wised up. The web comtent is still available via proxy, but videos are now geoblocked at the flash server level, so the video you see tells you your're not allowed to watch it. Some streaming sites simply ban popular proxy/VPN servers' IPs to prevent people from using them to bypass geoblocks. Hulu did it for a bunch of those, Netflix will likely end up doing the same if they get enough pressure from their content providers. |
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| reply to SpongeGuard
I'm using this with great results in Australia. I've not had any service issues, but I've only been using for 2 weeks. We have Apple TV and stream Netflix and MLB.tv - also watch episodes of US shows online. Loving it so far. |
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docbill
join:2006-10-24
Stoney Creek, ON Reviews:
 ·Velcom
·Bell Sympatico
 ·Bell Fibe
·Start Communicat..
 ·voip.ms
·PortBridge Inter..
 ·Cogeco Cable
1 edit | reply to SpongeGuard
said by SpongeGuard:For access to USA services such as netflix, hulu, pandora, etc?
I've been contemplating it for a while, but I want to know that these guys are reliable and trustworthy before I go and pay for the service.
Incase anyone is not familiar with them, they were previously known as USVideo.org or .ca.
I'm just about done with their free trial. I have to say it works very reliably. The only step they forgot to include, is to clear any IPV6 name servers from your router... It took me a day to realize that was the problem why at first they did not work.
As others have commented they are not a VPN service. What they do is a DNS server that directs select websites to their proxy. This has the advantage that you get full transfer speed to anywhere on the web except those few sites in the US they support. The disadvantage is there is no user customization. So for example, you cannot view syfy website videos from Canada using it.
The actually do some clever tricks to minimize the amount of traffic that needs to go through there site. So for example, if you watch videos on hulu, if you look at the IP addresses being routed to in your router, you'll see the videos do not transfer through their website. It took me several days of playing with privoxy to figure out how they do that, and how to replicate it without their service.
Since websites regularly change their methods of GEO checking, it seems to me it is well worth the $5/month to have someone else that will sweat it if for example hulu.com changes their GEO filters.
While a VPN service is more versatile, it is also more work. e.g. If netflix suddenly blocks your vpn service, you are probably still stuck for your full service term on your vpn contract. If you want to limit what goes through your VPN tunnel, so you get faster speeds on the things that don't need VPN, then you are either going to have to do lots of firewall rules, or you are going need to regularly connect and disconnect from VPN.
Unblock-us.com is very minimal work. You set your dns servers and forget about it. The one pain is if you have a dynamic IP address that regularly changes, you have to visit their website frequently to refresh your network login. They really need an application that makes that happen automatically...
Regards,
Bill |
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| reply to SpongeGuard
Signed up last night, works great. |
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Reviews:
·TekSavvy Cable
| reply to SpongeGuard
I tried out for this service this weekend and it works as advertised.
In a fit of irony over hearing about how much better the selection in the US is, I hit a bit of a negative with Netflix. It appears almost all the TV shows I was watching on the Canadian version and some movies I was planning on watching are all the ones not available on the US versions. (I was in the middle of Mad Men, Justified and Mythbusters on the Canadian Netflix. The US version doesn't carry the first two at all and only has a "best of" selection of Mythbusters episodes.)
That said, I really like how it works, and I'm happy to be listening to Pandora again. Once PSN is back online, I hope to try out Vudu. |
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| But with this service it should be easy to switch back and forth between being in Canada or the US if you wanted to pay for both Netflix services. If you want to access Netflix Canada then you could just change your DNS back to your regular ISP settings such as what you get from Rogers/Bell. Or you could even have a "Canadian" PC and a "US" PC. You should also be able to write a batch file to change your DNS settings with the double click of a mouse.
In an email from unblock-us they also said that they have a way of allowing you to access Netflix Canada while using their DNS settings but that was a bit more work but I decided to stick with the US service. |
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| reply to kuddles
said by kuddles:Once PSN is back online, I hope to try out Vudu.
Vudu works without PSN (I am not sure about signing up for it initially). It asks you to log into PSN, but you can just ignore it. |
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Reviews:
·TekSavvy Cable
| reply to wayner92
said by wayner92:But with this service it should be easy to switch back and forth between being in Canada or the US if you wanted to pay for both Netflix services. Yeah, the issue with that is I like to use my television to watch the programming, and since that is using an application instead of just a website, you basically have to re-install the Netflix app every time you switched between the Canadian or US one in addition to resetting the DNS Server settings in your router. I'm too lazy to do all that. I'll just find other ways of getting Mythbusters episodes.
said by Roofer:Vudu works without PSN (I am not sure about signing up for it initially). It asks you to log into PSN, but you can just ignore it.
Yeah, the problem is that you need to go on PSN to initially install the Vudu service, though, which I never did. |
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| reply to SpongeGuard
@docbill: were you able to replicate it without their service?
I already have a VPS in which i have privoxy, pptp and openvpn and it works fine but i have the obvious performance hit. I'd love to install a dns server and replicate their service, doing the administrative work is fine since these things are sort of a hobby for me :P |
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xcimoEbox 60Mbps
join:2007-11-21
Gatineau, QC Reviews:
·Videotron
·ELECTRONICBOX
·voip.ms
| reply to SpongeGuard
Anyone know how unblock.us works? Is it purely DNS based or by using DNS they redirect some (ie. netflix) to a tunnel to the US? (in which case they also need a US IP).
Anyone have more details on how it works?
Does your traceroute to netflix change when using unblock.us compared to a standard dns?
Thanks |
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 Nilism
join:2011-02-07
Edmonton, AB | reply to SpongeGuard
Been using them for a couple of months successfully. |
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 sm5w2
join:2004-10-13
St Thomas, ON | reply to SpongeGuard
I don't get it. How does using the DNS servers operated by Unblock-US differ from using other US-based DNS servers (like 4.2.2.2) as far as making US content servers think that you're located inside the USA?
I thought that the US-based content or media servers performed geo-location based on your IP address - which has nothing to do with what DNS server you use. |
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 mlernerPremium
join:2000-11-25
Nepean, ON
kudos:5 | It either does some reverse DNS trick or it hardcodes the IPs. I suspect the ones like Netflix don't do any hard checks so if it gets to the right server it probably won't check. For Hulu I have no idea because I know their site does a couple of different checks that normally can't be spoofed. |
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sm5w2
join:2004-10-13
St Thomas, ON | > It either does some reverse DNS trick or it hardcodes the IPs.
When you say "It" - what are you referring to? What is the "it"?
> I suspect the ones like Netflix don't do any hard checks so if it gets
> to the right server it probably won't check.
Are you saying that someone in the US would get a different DNS result if they did a query for netflix.com compared with someone in Canada performing the same DNS query for netflix.com? Even if the person in Canada was using 4.2.2.2 as their DNS server?
Explain. |
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mlernerPremium
join:2000-11-25
Nepean, ON
kudos:5 | It referring to the DNS servers and yes, the Canadian and US Netflix use different server farms. |
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sm5w2
join:2004-10-13
St Thomas, ON | > It referring to the DNS servers and yes, the Canadian and
> US Netflix use different server farms.
That doesn't answer the question I posed to you, which I will re-state:
Are you saying that someone in the US would get a different DNS result if they did a query for netflix.com compared with someone in Canada performing the same DNS query for netflix.com? Even if the person in Canada was using 4.2.2.2 as their DNS server?
Why would (or how could) a Canadian DNS server return a different result for a DNS query for netflix.COM vs a USA-based DNS server?
And here's another question: Does the UnBlock-US dns server return a different result for a netflix.com query compared to using an ordinary (and free/open) US-based DNS server (like 4.2.2.2) ? |
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mlernerPremium
join:2000-11-25
Nepean, ON
kudos:5 | The dns lookup doesn't happen like that. It first determines location (I'm not sure how Netflix does this part) then it redirects to the distribution network via DNS based on location. So if it thinks you're in the US you get redirected to xxx.netflix.com, if it thinks you're in Canada it gets redirected to xxx.ca.netflix.com.
Whoever created unblock US knew how to fool the site and also since they control the DNS they can set the records to whatever they want.
I would speculate though that there are all sorts of DNS vulnerabilities, I seem to remember in one case you could fool a site into thinking your reverse DNS for your assigned IP is different and if Netflix uses that it could fool it into thinking you have another ISP. |
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sm5w2
join:2004-10-13
St Thomas, ON | > It first determines location
What is "it"? When I point my browser to netflix.com, what is the "it"? Is it my browser, or the DNS server my computer happens to be using, or is it netflix.com?
> DNS based on location
What is a "DNS-based" location? How does the DNS name query mechanism include or perform any location-based functionality? When was this added to the DNS specification?
Or are you saying that the DNS servers that are authoritative for netflix.com are performing IP-based geo-locating, and are giving different computers different results based on the IP address of the computers performing the query? That would make sense, except for the DNS caching that goes on internet-wide. How do they get around that?
Wouldn't custom entries in my hosts file allow me to simulate what Unblock-US is doing?
Finally, how long before Netflix servers themselves perform IP-based geolocating and geo-blocking? |
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sm5w2
join:2004-10-13
St Thomas, ON | reply to SpongeGuard
Just to add this tid-bit: Hotspot shield apparently (still) works well for watching Hulu in Canada. A few of us were sitting around a Mac laptop in the office today watching the double-episode of the Office that aired last night. This was on Hulu - complete with commercials.
And hotspot shield is free (to my knowledge). |
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 corsterPremium
join:2002-02-23
Gatineau, QC
·TekSavvy Cable
| reply to sm5w2
said by sm5w2:Wouldn't custom entries in my hosts file allow me to simulate what Unblock-US is doing?
Finally, how long before Netflix servers themselves perform IP-based geolocating and geo-blocking?
No, and they already do.
Netflix checks IP when you load the homepage and when you load a video. Same with services like Hulu.
--
Rob Ford, Check. Stephen Harper, Check. Tim Hudak, October.
Ontario can lead again - Tim Hudak and the Ontario PC Party in 2011 |
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