VPN capable of streaming BBC iplayer in the evening

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lrh000

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#68922 29-Sep-2010 20:45

Hi after around 3 weeks of trying I have not been able to successfully stream the BBC iplayer after 8pm in NZ.

I have now tried 2 different VPN providers the first was overplay.net that provided good suport but the bandwidth when measured between NZ and the UK was nornally around 300K (tested through speedtest website). They seemed unable to find a solution despite trying a number of different config changes. However sppeds were around 1Mb in the morning.

I then moved to BlackVPN. These guys provide better speeds and I can happily sit watching iplayer till about 8pm NZ time, when the speeds really drop and the player starts buffering every 5 or so seconds - making it unwatchable.

By testing my Vodafone broadband bandwidth on speedtest I can see that even after 8pm my bandwith is around 3Mbits per second - which should be ample. However going through blackvpn it drops to 0.22Mb/sec

Now it has been suggested that I go to a torrent - there is one that has a number of uk shows, the name escapes me at present. Anyway does anyone have a working VPN connection to stream the iplayer in the NZ evening.

Many thanks

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#386057 29-Sep-2010 21:11

I use witopia.net for my VPN service to access hulu and bbc iplayer. just did this speedtest connected to witopia's london server a minute ago. I am on the $60/year SSL plan ($55 if you can find easily available coupons) and get access to like 40 servers around the world which I can switch at my own convience as many times as I want.

ps - my ISP is vodafone.

Do whatever you want to do man.

gjm

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#386063 29-Sep-2010 21:20

is that $60 US or NZ?

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richms

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#386066 29-Sep-2010 21:24

When i was using iPlayer, I was able to get the download link for shows thru the VPN, then download without using the VPN, then use the VPN to let media player do all the DRM crap that it does which was much faster than streaming it.

Then slingshot changed stuff so the download links were throttled so I just went back to torrenting the shows I wanted.

Richard rich.ms

lrh000

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#386067 29-Sep-2010 21:24

Great - sounds promising , thanks a lot and a really fast reply. I'll give it a go tomorrow night - I see they have a 30 day money back guarantee too.

Cheers

billgates

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#386068 29-Sep-2010 21:26

gjm: is that $60 US or NZ?

US. If you bing or google for witopia coupon then you can get it for $55/year. Watching panorama on iplayer right now and it's playing a treat. ofcourse your ISP in NZ also needs to be good and provide good routes and bandwidth.

Do whatever you want to do man.

Fraktul

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#386080 29-Sep-2010 22:01

Err, FUG "the post links to unauthorised sources of copyrighted material not property of the author"?

Also such usage is against the terms of usage of BBC iPlayer.

Alternatively you can pay my tv license fee and I will waive all personal objections

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hellonearthisman

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#386138 30-Sep-2010 02:24

I hope your paying you BBC TV licence for that service.

1080p

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#386150 30-Sep-2010 06:27

StrongVPN is probably the most legit VPN service I have stumbled across.

The BBC iPlayer is licensed to play to British IP addresses, if that British IP address happens to be tunneled to NZ then you've managed to make use of a great loophole.

I have no sympathy for companies trying to restrict the flow of information. It does want to be free after all.

nate

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#386784 1-Oct-2010 15:13

Fraktul: Err, FUG "the post links to unauthorised sources of copyrighted material not property of the author"?

We've discussed this as mods and decided the topic is discussing the service, not linking to copyright material, so it's not in breach of the FUG.

I do appreciate the heads up

timbosan

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#386814 1-Oct-2010 16:16

lrh000: Hi after around 3 weeks of trying I have not been able to successfully stream the BBC iplayer after 8pm in NZ.

I have now tried 2 different VPN providers the first was overplay.net that provided good suport but the bandwidth when measured between NZ and the UK was nornally around 300K (tested through speedtest website). They seemed unable to find a solution despite trying a number of different config changes. However sppeds were around 1Mb in the morning.

I then moved to BlackVPN. These guys provide better speeds and I can happily sit watching iplayer till about 8pm NZ time, when the speeds really drop and the player starts buffering every 5 or so seconds - making it unwatchable.

By testing my Vodafone broadband bandwidth on speedtest I can see that even after 8pm my bandwith is around 3Mbits per second - which should be ample. However going through blackvpn it drops to 0.22Mb/sec

Now it has been suggested that I go to a torrent - there is one that has a number of uk shows, the name escapes me at present. Anyway does anyone have a working VPN connection to stream the iplayer in the NZ evening.

Many thanks

The torrent site is probably thebox.bz - a big looking site but with closed membership. Seems to only deal in UK programs.

I tried HappyVPN about a year ago but had similar issues - I could stream from Hulu at most times but with BBC I had to download in the iPlayer and watch latter.

I think the problem really stems from the economics of the service - to provide a pipe capable of streaming video at full speed between the UK an NZ all the time (basically 24/7) would be too much for most people to afford.

raytaylor

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#386949 1-Oct-2010 22:30

The BBC iplayer only plays content to british ip addresses because they pay a tv license - they pay for their tv programming.

We have advertisment supported TVNZ. Our TVNZ ondemmand only allows NZ viewers to watch it.

This is because when BBC or TVNZ purchase a program to air from the production company, they only pay for the rights to broadcast it in a certain region.

I dont like people that try to get around this with VPN's as you havent paid for the content, and you are wasting perfectly good bandwidth by routing traffic to areas where it doesnt need to go.
Honestly I would be happier if you just torrented it. Its the lesser of two evils.

Ray Taylor

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billgates

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#386963 1-Oct-2010 22:53

raytaylor:
I dont like people that try to get around this with VPN's as you havent paid for the content, and you are wasting perfectly good bandwidth by routing traffic to areas where it doesnt need to go.
Honestly I would be happier if you just torrented it. Its the lesser of two evils.

err how is torrenting less evil when the ad's are chopped/cut by uploaders whereas with Hulu and BBC iPlayer, you are forced to watch ad's. I ended up downloading chrome browser couple of months ago to take it for a spin when Hulu showed me the google ad every now and then. Torrenting is evil.

Do whatever you want to do man.

raytaylor

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#386965 1-Oct-2010 22:56

Both are 'evil' as you are downloading the program without rightful access to it, but torrenting is generally more efficient than if you are vpning it around the internet to places where the data doesnt need to go. So its the lesser of the 2 evils.

Ray Taylor

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Fraktul

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#387011 2-Oct-2010 05:02

raytaylor: Both are 'evil' as you are downloading the program without rightful access to it, but torrenting is generally more efficient than if you are vpning it around the internet to places where the data doesnt need to go. So its the lesser of the 2 evils.

Only from a network providers points of view (assuming they are not doing volume based billing). From the copyright owners point of view then torrenting is probably worse since they are not getting eyeballs on adds.

Anyho, off topic if the mods are happy with the discussion, which has similarities to discussions around torrenting. I only put my 2c in as I had to pay by TV license fee the other day to pay for the content you are accessing illegally!

Cry me a river.

richms

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#387012 2-Oct-2010 05:13

Both are just problems with an outdated region specific distribution model.

If people use services to bypass it, then the sooner the broadcasters/producers will have to adapt or die as a result.

Richard rich.ms

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