VPN services to allow Canadians to access sites like Hulu

[Civuck]

Hotspot Shield is a popular proxy service that a lot of Canucks use for accessing Hulu.

[Nuje]

I tried Hulu again today (haven't used it for a while), and got a "You appear to be using an anonymous IP proxy, so we're not going to show you any content" kind of message.

Comedy Central worked, but it would appear that Hulu is hip to the Hotspot Shield trick.

[hugh]

Another lengthy thread discussing VPN options NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox Online in Canada using a VPN?

[rporetti]

It seems most proxy server solutions are no longer working with some services like Hulu?

IS there a way to do this on a more or less permanent basis?

[hugh]

Yep. Sign up for a VPN service.

[gwydionjhr]

I have two Sammy B750s already and a PNC7000 coming, along with the BD-C6900 BluRay player. There is also a HW-C900 to handle the audio duties on the horizon. It's all Sammy, all the time, and I really like the DLNA network.

If I want to take advantage of some of the US based @internet apps that come on these units I'm going to need to either do a Proxy Server or a VPN. Which will work better for my application?

All of these devices are connecting to the internet via WiFi, so what part of my setup/network needs to be re-directed through either the PS or the VPN? My wireless router?

TIA

[pappcam]

It seems like there an awful lot of pay per month VPN services. Are there some that are considered the best or safest?

I'm not plunking money down without prior knowledge of something.

[Ham.Clan]

I am by no means an authority on VPN services but did a little research on the subject yesterday after reading this thread.
I looked into HideIPVPN after reading some good things about it.
They have a free one-hour trial that you can get to see how the service will work for your needs.
I set up a US and UK VPN and both connected and worked flawlessly on my Windows 7 machine. I was finally able to watch Hulu and ITV with no problems.
And weekly, they give out 25 free VPN accounts. None available right now, but I'll keep checking. I'd prefer a free one to test for a while, then pay for more premium service if all goes well.

[Arc|Angel]

I've been using them since 2009. Problems I was having turned out to be my actual physical phone line. Since that was repaired I've had no issues since watching HD streams even.

$10 is a lot? I cancelled my $180 cable bill and switched to pure streaming via this.

[1skydive]

I'd like to watch shows/repeats in the US that many networks (like PBS) willingly provide access to. I have no clue what I'm doing so I thought I'd try a free VPN first. I tried Hotspot Shield but I'm little worried about what I may have downloaded (I have an iMac so I'm probably OK). Is there any risk to using these sites.

Ps Do some pay services provide multiple city servers so you can access the local programing in those cities?

[hugh]

Is there any risk to using these sites.

I don't think you need to worry about sites like PBS. If you're downloading shows from Porn sites then you may have a bit to worry about

[1skydive]

I'm not worried about viewing content on a major US network it's the obscure VPN sites like Hotspot shield that worry my.

[badkarma]

After trying some of the free services which get oversubscribed really fast, I bit the bullet and ordered a cheap OpenVZ VPS and setup openvpn to access US sites ($5/mos). Works really well, I get about 4-8Mbit through the tunnel. This method is far less likely to get blocked, but on the flip side you need to know what you're doing. I use linux on a somewhat regular basis, so this wasn't a large departure for me.

[Arc|Angel]

Originally Posted by 1skydive

I'd like to watch shows/repeats in the US that many networks (like PBS) willingly provide access to. I have no clue what I'm doing so I thought I'd try a free VPN first. I tried Hotspot Shield but I'm little worried about what I may have downloaded (I have an iMac so I'm probably OK). Is there any risk to using these sites.

Ps Do some pay services provide multiple city servers so you can access the local programing in those cities?

Hulu loves to block VPN services. But an attentive one will usually just change the IP's once it has noticed this. If Hulu is down you can try to network itself (NBC and FOX excluded) as they are rarely blocked.

I've never had ABC or CBS blocked.

Reality is at least this summer the combination of Rogers On Demand and GlobalTV (now with high quality feeds) has meant I don't need to use my VPN often. CTV's feeds are ugly as balls though (which is unfortunate because their olympics coverage was gorgeous).

I'm not sure what you mean by local feeds. I've never had content in the US where a US VPN didn't let me view because of regional restrictions (state to state that is).

[bscarlett]

I just subscribed to StrongVPN and configured it on my dd-wrt firmware router and now my entire network can access US based services. Hulu for my PC, Pandora for my Sonos...the list get longer with everything I try. The speeds are very good but it depends on the router you are using, the older router like a WRT54G only has a 200Mhz processor whereas the WRT310N has a 300 Mhz and that makes a difference. I am going to upgrade to the WRT610N to get a 600 Mhz processor. I was loosing about 20% of my bandwidth on the 310N when downloading from newsgroups. Now the is pretty good considering it has 10 download streams running and the router is encyrpting all of it.

I will be working on routing with the router to only route US based service through the VPN tunnel and leave non-location based traffic through my ISP. Another plus...not throttling for bittorrent and other P2P!