Let me paint a picture and see if it looks familiar. You arrive at the hotel after a long flight. Perhaps you were sitting in an overbooked flight with no leg room. You have finally arrived at the hotel and now it’s time to stream a couple of your favorite shows. But soon enough you find out that access to the streaming service you are trying to use is blocked because of geo restrictions.
Sounds familiar? Then read on because the solution is just a click away.
Use VPN to Unblock Streaming Services
Most streaming services only work in certain countries. One example is BBC iPlayer, which only works in the UK or perhaps Hulu, which only works in the US.
The method used by these streaming services is the same. Once you try to stream from your account then the service will detect your location via your computers IP. An IP is a unique number you get when you go online. Since you are using the Internet connection from the hotel it’s easy for the streaming service to locate you.
If you use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) then you can hide your IP and instead the streaming service you use will see the IP of the VPN server you are using.
Sounds complicated? Don’t worry as all you need to do is download an app for your device and click a button. Really.
First head on over to Unlocator and create a free trial. You get access to both their Smart DNS service and VPN. No need to enter credit card details for the trial btw – that’s a pretty nice gesture I think.
Once you have created the account you simply install their app on your device. Then open the app and connect to a server located in the country where the streaming service you want to use originates from.
In the case of BBC iPlayer you would connect to a UK server and so forth.
Connect to Hotel WiFi Securely
Another important point regarding VPN is that it will encrypt your data connection. So why is this important you ask? Well connection to WiFi on a public network like that of a hotel is very risky. When you connect to public Wifi without using VPN then any other user on the network can intercept unsecured data sent on the network.
So if you value your privacy one bit it’s a good idea to always use VPN when connected to hotel WiFi or any other public network.