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Netflix could soon block VPN & DNS users


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Old 04-01-2015, 20:00
NirvanaGirl
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I really hope this is all scaremongering as I'd be lost without US Netflix. As others have said, UK Netflix just doesn't have enough of the stuff I like to watch & my Netflix is pretty much always set to US via Unblock US.

I'm just about to pay a year upfront for my Unblock US as well as I find it very convenient & easy to use.

I really don't mind paying for the Netflix sub & the Unblock US sub to be able to watch the programmes I'm interested in because it's good value for my money & meant that I could tell Sky where to get off, but I'm buggered if I'll pay just for UK Netflix. I'll just go back to watching everything via streaming illegally.
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Old 04-01-2015, 22:27
Sevrin
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I will leave Netflix too if they stop us accessing other countries. Netflix UK is very poor, I wanted to watch Spooks but had to go over to Netflix US. Even old UK drama isn't available, things like Upstairs Downstairs, All Creatures Great and Small and Elizabeth R I have to go over to US.
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Old 04-01-2015, 23:18
moox
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£8 for Sky Movies (if you take sport, which the majority of Sky Movies customers do) is not bad. You get 3D too.
And presumably you need to take some base package too, so you're talking £30 or 40+ a month. If you are allowed to have a satellite dish. At least 12 month contract also. If you want to use it in more than one room that's another £12 per box and then there's only a limited selection if you want to use it away from home.
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Old 04-01-2015, 23:53
Amanda_Raymond
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I get Sky Movies for a month during Oscar time, I find that i've watched pretty much everything I've wanted to in a month, and they only get maybe one film of interest a week, they must have lost a lot of customers to netflix, there's a reason netflix isn't available on sky tv
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Old 05-01-2015, 02:10
gother
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I get Sky Movies for a month during Oscar time, I find that i've watched pretty much everything I've wanted to in a month, and they only get maybe one film of interest a week, they must have lost a lot of customers to netflix, there's a reason netflix isn't available on sky tv
Most likely something to do with the box not being streaming compatable?
On demand stuff has to be downloaded direct to the box, then again Netflix isn't on the nowtv box either Sky are certainly worried about Netflix and BT.
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Old 05-01-2015, 04:39
JCR
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I really hope this is all scaremongering as I'd be lost without US Netflix. As others have said, UK Netflix just doesn't have enough of the stuff I like to watch & my Netflix is pretty much always set to US via Unblock US.

I'm just about to pay a year upfront for my Unblock US as well as I find it very convenient & easy to use.

I really don't mind paying for the Netflix sub & the Unblock US sub to be able to watch the programmes I'm interested in because it's good value for my money & meant that I could tell Sky where to get off, but I'm buggered if I'll pay just for UK Netflix. I'll just go back to watching everything via streaming illegally.
It's not scaremongering in that people have seen Netflix contract with Sony (curse those pesky North Koreans!) & part of it is shown here- http://torrentfreak.com/images/geofiltering.png

Of course it's likely the VPN's would just find a work around to whatever Netflix do, and it'll just turn into the same endless cat & mouse game there is with the torrent sites. Que sera, sera.
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Old 05-01-2015, 09:10
Peter the Great
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Another annoying reason why I have to access different regions on Netflix. I was in the middle of season 3 of Covert Affairs on UK Netflix and now it has reverted back to 2 seasons only and the 3rd season has disappeared! To access the 3rd season I now have to use the Columbia region.
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Old 05-01-2015, 10:00
alcockell
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Its not just down to the greedy rights holders though.
They've got to keep their customers happy otherwise they'll lose their business. The rights holders customers also have their own customers and then potential customers which they'll want exclusive content to entice them.
If every service had the same content then there wouldn't be any competition to choose one service over the other.
And thsi is PRECISELY why we need a proper streaming rights wholesale market. This exclusive-access shit is what drives consumers into the hands of the pirates.

The pirates still offer the one-stop-shop "video rental" retail experience, although it's getting better.

This was PRECISELY what we went through with VHS/Beta/V2000 back in the day...
And the iTunes/Android "speed wars" are still shaking out. How long did the Columbia 33rpm/RCA Victor 45rpm thing in the 40s take to shake out?
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Old 05-01-2015, 10:04
alcockell
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"From querying the user’s time zone through the web browser or mobile device GPS"

Not sure how well that'll work, if someone did genuinely travel to the US their PC clock may still be set to a different time zone.

Using GeoIP might be fun too, given how poor the data these databases tend to have (as some ISPs don't bother to update it).

In an ideal world, the media/movie companies would stop swimming against the tide. Making services like Netflix more difficult to use is only going to drive people back to torrents.

The music industry seems to have finally listened to the number of users of services like Spotify
Massive rise in the number of virtual desktops rented in different countries?
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Old 05-01-2015, 12:16
little-monster
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How annoying

Netflix UK sucks big time
I use US and Canada all the time. I will be lost without them. If this occurs, i will more than likely cancel my account, but reactivate it when a netflix show returns for a new series or if a new show premieres.
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Old 05-01-2015, 14:07
jackthom
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I'm afraid that if Netflix do decide to go down this route they'll find it all too easy to implement.

Wherever you are in the World (either physically or by spoofing with the likes of Unblock US ) to view content you have to log in and their system then surely knows you should only have access to UK content. I can't see any way customers could get around this if Netflix are forced to change their current easy-going roaming system.
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Old 05-01-2015, 14:39
Philip Wales
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How annoying

Netflix UK sucks big time
I use US and Canada all the time. I will be lost without them. If this occurs, i will more than likely cancel my account, but reactivate it when a netflix show returns for a new series or if a new show premieres.
The trouble is every region complains about their own NF, head over to the US they all watch Canada etc.
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Old 05-01-2015, 15:18
Dancc
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This was inevitable. Despite attempts on here to convince people that it's perfectly fine to use these VPN/DNS workarounds to access other versions of Netflix, piracy is piracy. Might as well not pay anything and torrent the whole lot, it's no less illegal than accessing content not intended for your region. The amount of misinformation floating around on this subject is unbelievable really.

Also, Netflix UK is nowhere near as bad as is being made out. But that's the content your cheap as chips 5.99 a month gives you the right to watch, absolutely nothing else.
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Old 05-01-2015, 16:35
moox
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This was inevitable. Despite attempts on here to convince people that it's perfectly fine to use these VPN/DNS workarounds to access other versions of Netflix, piracy is piracy. Might as well not pay anything and torrent the whole lot, it's no less illegal than accessing content not intended for your region. The amount of misinformation floating around on this subject is unbelievable really.

Also, Netflix UK is nowhere near as bad as is being made out. But that's the content your cheap as chips 5.99 a month gives you the right to watch, absolutely nothing else.
"Piracy is piracy" is a massive oversimplification. Is it against the wishes of the copyright holder, sure, but they'd have much less of a legal footing to sue anyone over it, given that the service and the content is still being paid for.

There is a difference between downloading it without paying and circumventing some arbitrary restriction but still paying anyway

For example, see the attempts by organisations like UEFA to try to enforce their regional restrictions so that UK viewers would have to buy through Sky rather than any EU satellite system. That has not been overly successful in the courts.
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Old 05-01-2015, 19:21
Kargo
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I did notice that the Netflix T&Cs had changed recently, and it includes a clause about only watching content licensed in your region. Maybe it said that before.

I use Unblock-US, and I've even paid for a years subscription up front. However, I fully accept the possibility that Netflix will more rigidly enforce regional rights for content, as is their right.

I note that Captain America; the Winter Soldier is available on Netflix in the Netherlands before even the U.S. so the international licensing deals are odd.
I'm with Unblock-Us too. I have a feeling they (along with other DNS switcher services) won't give up without a fight, if they have to they'll do their very best at developing a workaround, It's their business after all.

I don't know about anyone else but reading the articles published on this matter, one word really ticks me off and thats "piracy". They are making us out to be freeloaders who are taking but not giving anything back in return. Whether we are in the UK and want to access US or vice versa, the money goes into the same pot and not only that, I had a little look at the subscription cost in other regions and it more or less works out exactly the same so how on earth can it be considered as pirating when we are all paying the same?

What I'd really like to know is whether or not the subscription fee money we pay here in the UK actually goes into solely maintaining the UK Netflix library or does it get split across the regions? - if that's the case then its bloody cheeky of them to take action on region switchers.
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Old 05-01-2015, 19:27
gother
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I'm with Unblock-Us too. I have a feeling they (along with other DNS switcher services) won't give up without a fight, if they have to they'll do their very best at developing a workaround, It's their business after all.
If you can block googles dns in your router unblock, unotelly have great guides on how to do it.
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Old 05-01-2015, 20:17
Kargo
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Just spoke to their customer service on live support. Here's basically what was said.

Me:
I've been using a VPN to access Netflix content for well over a year now. I was first told that this was okay and that using a VPN to access Netflix in countries where the content differs from my local region was perfectly fine. Reading up on your supposed 'new policy', can you please let me know if this is still the case?


Netflix:
I totally understand what you are saying and I know you want to continue to enjoy your local programs while traveling... Using a VPN is against our terms of use and was always the case.. However, if you decide to use a VPN, you are doing that at your own risk as using a vpn often results in streaming issues.

We cannot speak of the legality of VPN in connection to your country but using it to view Netflix content in a different region is against our terms of use


Me:
It's more convenience then anything, I noticed the content differs when i'm travelling in another country and in some cases where Netflix is unavailable, a VPN is my only option to continue using the service I'm paying for."


Netflix:
I totally understand where you are coming from.. And I know it is convenient for you to do so.. We can only advise you of our terms of use but again the choice is yours if you want to use a vpn, However we can not be held responsible for any streaming issues you may encounter while doing so


Me:
when you say streaming issues, what exactly do you mean?


Netflix:
On a normal basis (without the use of vpn) our movies are delivered from servers relatively close to your physical location.. So using a VPN, your connection can result in slow loading, buffering, low video quality and streaming errors that would not normally occur.
Subtitles might not be displayed in some cases also.


Me:
Thanks very much for the information.
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Old 05-01-2015, 20:55
Placebo_PRS
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I had a chat with someone at Netflix on another matter (SuperHD being removed from PS4) and the agent I spoke to said they don't care if I use a VPN:

Netflix
Sometimes while you are steaming there can be a slight difference in the quality that you get because of a little bit of fluctuation on the connection. Now, I am seeing in here that when you were testing the title in both devices it shows from two different locations in the PS4. It's possible that someone has set up the configuration on your device to use a proxy or VPN. There's no problem with that but we don't really recommend this since sometimes it can cause a little difficulties because of the variation of the signal. Not to worry, I have some steps i here so you can check them out and get rid of the issue asap
I've removed the name of the agent but the rest of the quote is intact.
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Old 05-01-2015, 22:38
alcockell
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Virtual desktop rental will soar...
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Old 05-01-2015, 22:57
moox
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Virtual desktop rental will soar...
Not if it can't stream video properly, and IIRC Netflix's DRM already detects if you're using RDP
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Old 05-01-2015, 23:49
-GONZO-
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Well iOS apps have just received an update and they still work as before.
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Old 06-01-2015, 00:22
howard h
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"People Buying Movies Is Killing The Movie Industry"





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Old 06-01-2015, 10:12
SimonB79
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Well iOS apps have just received an update and they still work as before.
Yep! ... My iPad app is working perfectly with unotelly! 👍

(Like allot of folk on ere I'll be getting rid of netflix & replacing it with a nowtv movie sub if blocking occurs!)
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Old 06-01-2015, 10:17
SimonB79
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"People Buying Movies Is Killing The Movie Industry"





I could easily torrent all my media stuff for free (& pretty much instantly) but I'm paying my subs! ... The greedy ******* movie industry should be grateful! 👎
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Old 06-01-2015, 10:24
davor
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Just spoke to their customer service on live support. Here's basically what was said.

Me:
I've been using a VPN to access Netflix content for well over a year now. I was first told that this was okay and that using a VPN to access Netflix in countries where the content differs from my local region was perfectly fine. Reading up on your supposed 'new policy', can you please let me know if this is still the case?


Netflix:
I totally understand what you are saying and I know you want to continue to enjoy your local programs while traveling... Using a VPN is against our terms of use and was always the case.. However, if you decide to use a VPN, you are doing that at your own risk as using a vpn often results in streaming issues.

We cannot speak of the legality of VPN in connection to your country but using it to view Netflix content in a different region is against our terms of use


Me:
It's more convenience then anything, I noticed the content differs when i'm travelling in another country and in some cases where Netflix is unavailable, a VPN is my only option to continue using the service I'm paying for."


Netflix:
I totally understand where you are coming from.. And I know it is convenient for you to do so.. We can only advise you of our terms of use but again the choice is yours if you want to use a vpn, However we can not be held responsible for any streaming issues you may encounter while doing so


Me:
when you say streaming issues, what exactly do you mean?


Netflix:
On a normal basis (without the use of vpn) our movies are delivered from servers relatively close to your physical location.. So using a VPN, your connection can result in slow loading, buffering, low video quality and streaming errors that would not normally occur.
Subtitles might not be displayed in some cases also.


Me:
Thanks very much for the information.

What a load of bollocks. Dodgy VPN would certainly slow the streaming down a bit, but a decent VPN could not cause any problems whatsoever. Besides, VPN's are obsolete today. People now use Smart DNS, and Smart DNS doesn't slow down connection.

I use Smart DNS on my TV to access catch up players and it works like a dream.
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