BBC iPlayer

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4100 posts

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#1428684 16-Nov-2015 10:14

I think that the unblockers basically trick the target site into thinking you are 'local'.
At that point I think that the other traffic lookups would happen through your ISPs network.
So the amount of data that the DNS unblocker handles is pretty small I think.

I had issues last year where the BBC iplayer was taking 40 - 60s to load - it was hanging on some specific bbc addresses. I switched my DNS to vodafone from Unotelly (I am on Vodafone ADSL) and the site would load in a couple of seconds. Of course nothing would play....

I reported this to Unotelly (I was with them) and they did quite a few traces and said that it looked like some of the iplayer international traffic was routing through the USA and was very very slow. I gather the iplayer site serves content from different servers depending on where it 'thinks' you are.

I signed up for a trial of DNS4ME (I have since actually switched to them) and exactly the same issue with the iplayer site taking up to a minute to load was happening. So it didnt appear to be the unblocker - but more an issue with how the traffic was being routed (via your own ISP I think?).

Anyway - one day everything started working quickly again and seems to have been ok for many months.

While I was having these substantial go slows I actually tried the 4G on my skinny mobile phone and set the phone to use the unotelly DNS servers. The bbc iplayer app loaded instantly. Again - made me think its the ISP....

I guess I am saying that as far as I know your ISPs network routing may be a big part of the issue and that will be very hard for you to change.

Anyone with deeper knowledge please feel free to correct me.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

shk292

2858 posts

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#1428700 16-Nov-2015 10:37

Totally agree with the above; I'm sure there combinations of device, ISP and unblocking service which work well with various apps and others that don't. I'm on slingshot UFB and there is evidently some sort of routing problem with Unotelly's DNS

jawnbc

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#1429863 17-Nov-2015 19:06

Agreed. That's why I switched from Unblockus, as well several key UK apps weren't supported by Unblockus and they've worked great on Unotelly. Mostly.

Interesting. I am with UnoTelly and have not experienced that kind of laggy loading on Netflix.

jawnbc

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#1429865 17-Nov-2015 19:09

Something similar is happening on my Roku. We can get into BBC iPlayer, but keep getting the "sorry there's a problem with you programme" blah blah. We were halfway through a programme when it slowed down, the froze. Hasn't worked since.

Restarts of all pieces (router, device) haven't resolved it. All4 and ITV work just fine.

langers1972

1039 posts

Uber Geek

#1429870 17-Nov-2015 19:20

iPlayer on the Samsung TV seems to be working again now despite the blog on Unotelly not being updated. Fingers crossed that we're back to normal as its been excellent up until now

jawnbc

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#1429948 17-Nov-2015 20:34

Working fine on my Roku tonight too. Yay!

gjdavies75

79 posts

Master Geek

#1430279 18-Nov-2015 11:46

jawnbc: Agreed. That's why I switched from Unblockus, as well several key UK apps weren't supported by Unblockus and they've worked great on Unotelly. Mostly.

Interesting. I am with UnoTelly and have not experienced that kind of laggy loading on Netflix.

So, is BBC iPlayer OK with UnblockUs? This is the main thing I am looking to get access to!

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shk292

2858 posts

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#1430283 18-Nov-2015 11:53

gjdavies75:
jawnbc: Agreed. That's why I switched from Unblockus, as well several key UK apps weren't supported by Unblockus and they've worked great on Unotelly. Mostly.

Interesting. I am with UnoTelly and have not experienced that kind of laggy loading on Netflix.

So, is BBC iPlayer OK with UnblockUs? This is the main thing I am looking to get access to!

I've been using mainly Unotelly, which works but is slow on my Samsung TV. During the recent outage, I tried Unblockus, which performs much better - I have no idea why or whether this is ISP-specific or TV-specific

If I was choosing one now, I'd use Unblockus

robjg63

4100 posts

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#1430293 18-Nov-2015 12:13

jawnbc: Something similar is happening on my Roku. We can get into BBC iPlayer, but keep getting the "sorry there's a problem with you programme" blah blah. We were halfway through a programme when it slowed down, the froze. Hasn't worked since.

Restarts of all pieces (router, device) haven't resolved it. All4 and ITV work just fine.

I have seen that occasionally - Not sure exactly what it meant - I usually figured maybe there was some iplayer maintenance happening, as the times that it occurred were usually pretty off-peak in the UK.
Trying again an hour or so later the problem usually seemed to clear and might not see it again for a long time.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

imjohn

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1431582 20-Nov-2015 10:24

Hi

Their is a law actually that makes it okay for you to watch bbc iplayer, and all the content the provide online. I will try find the precise reference and sent it.

I do this also. I watch alot bbc iplayer on my computer and are right now using www.stremr.tv smart vpn to hide my location. But i have before used other dns/vpn services and i there is not really much bbc can do.

It´s a little bit more tricky on tablet and phones because they require the app and then checks if your itunes account are british.

gjdavies75

79 posts

Master Geek

#1433282 23-Nov-2015 13:38

shk292:
gjdavies75:
jawnbc: Agreed. That's why I switched from Unblockus, as well several key UK apps weren't supported by Unblockus and they've worked great on Unotelly. Mostly.

Interesting. I am with UnoTelly and have not experienced that kind of laggy loading on Netflix.

So, is BBC iPlayer OK with UnblockUs? This is the main thing I am looking to get access to!

I've been using mainly Unotelly, which works but is slow on my Samsung TV. During the recent outage, I tried Unblockus, which performs much better - I have no idea why or whether this is ISP-specific or TV-specific

If I was choosing one now, I'd use Unblockus

I'm on the free trial for UnblockUs, too.
It looks pretty good, actually. iPlayer works a treat with it.
I may go for this as my new subscription....

Thanks for the tip @shk292

Yabanize

2350 posts

Uber Geek

#1433284 23-Nov-2015 13:49

I use stremr.tv

Its free and seems to work okay

shk292

2858 posts

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#1433320 23-Nov-2015 14:20

gjdavies75:
I'm on the free trial for UnblockUs, too.
It looks pretty good, actually. iPlayer works a treat with it.
I may go for this as my new subscription....

Thanks for the tip @shk292

No problem. My Unblockus trial expired and I'm back to Unotelly. I am using the Sydney server instead of the Akl or USA ones, and this seems to work much better.

jawnbc

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#1433411 23-Nov-2015 17:02

Actually, it does the same geolocation check as any other device. The difference is the app itself: there's a UK iTunes store version and a 'rest of the world' version.

If you create an iTunes account for the UK--which isn't hard to do--you can download and install the UK version of iPlayer onto your devices. iOS devices will happily accommodate apps from multiple iTunes stores: mine has apps from NZ, Canada, US, UK and Australia.

Regarding Unotelly versus Unblock.us: For our smart devices both the ITV and All4 (UK) apps stopped working for us under Unblock.us and there were no plans to remedy this. With Unotelly all the apps on my Roku work--and having a NZ-specific DNS seems to make it faster too.

imjohn: Hi

Their is a law actually that makes it okay for you to watch bbc iplayer, and all the content the provide online. I will try find the precise reference and sent it.

I do this also. I watch alot bbc iplayer on my computer and are right now using www.stremr.tv smart vpn to hide my location. But i have before used other dns/vpn services and i there is not really much bbc can do.

It´s a little bit more tricky on tablet and phones because they require the app and then checks if your itunes account are british.

poppy10

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1462576 6-Jan-2016 19:09

I've got the lifetime Getflix smartDNS subscription. It works great with Netflix - whether I choose Aus, UK or USA it all loads quickly at SuperHD resolution with no lagging or latency. Fine with All4 and Demand 5 too.

But with iPlayer I constantly get buffering and then eventually "you don't have enough bandwidth to play this content."
I have 100MB fibre and speed tests confirm I am running at top speed. There is no network congestion as I don't have any other devices accessing the internet. The supposed lack of bandwidth only affects iPlayer, not other internet sites/apps.

Are other DNS providers better with accessing iPlayer from NZ?

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