This is just a fun quick post. Have you ever been traveling across the pond and wanted to watch your favorite streaming service or news broadcast. You fire up your tablet tap on the app or go to the website and you get… “we’re sorry this content is unavailable out side of the…”
I have a couple of ways to address this. First I use PiVPN to have a secure tunnel back home. That will work a lot of the time… Though sometimes the lag just isn’t worth it. The other way I watch the latest episode of that new show is to change the appearance of where my device is.
To do that I use a service called Unlocator. (There are others out there to.) They have two different features, one is a VPN service, which can be handy. The other is a DNS service provider that hides your real location. Meaning if you’re like me and want to catch the latest episode of a popular show, just leverage Unlocator and change to a location where you can watch.
Unlocator costs me about $25 USD a year (I just use the DNS service). So when I travel I can get services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and the big 3 national broadcasting services that are here in the States.
You might wonder how to setup Unlocator with your device. It’s actually rather easy.
- Login to your Unlocator account to see what your DNS entries should be.
- On your device, add those DNS entries to the top of your DNS list. (Don’t worry they have instructions on how to do it for just about any device imaginable.)
- Verify Unlocator is working correctly for you by clicking the “check” button in your Unlocator account.
- Pull up your streaming service
That’s it, nothing more than that. Now you can watch your favorite programs from across the pond. (Yes, it’s really that simple.) I actually have a Raspberry Pi that I have setup with all my favorite streaming services, a VPN, and Unlocator. Then I just hook it up to the TV in my hotel room and away I go.
Those of you in the States might also wonder if this means you could watch your favorite overseas content on for example the BBC. That would be wrong because you’re supposed to have a TV license to watch BBC programme and the BBC asks you when you load iPlayer if you have one… So I guess the answer is no.
That is my post for today. Hopefully this helps you catch all those great shows you thought you were missing on your travels.
May your servers keep running and your data center always be chilled.
