Aussie Netflix addicts went ballistic last week after the streaming service started blocking them from accessing its much bigger US catalogue. But less than a week after the crackdown came into effect, third-party “unblocking” providers say they’ve already found ways to circumvent the problem, with their customers happily tuning into US Netflix again.
The game of cat and mouse between Netflix and services which get around its geoblocking is well and truly on. Photo: iStock
Melbourne-based proxy service uFlix, which uses “smart DNS” technology to trick Netflix into thinking you’re based in the US, said it was “still digging into” the detail of the issue but things were up and running again for its customers.
uFlix managing director Peter Dujan wouldn’t go into detail about how uFlix had engineered the fix but said: “Everything is working and we have very happy customers.” When a customer asked uFlix on its Facebook page whether the service had moved to a new server, a representative replied that “a mixture of a few different things” had worked.
Marvel’s Jessica Jones is a popular original Netflix series. Photo: Netflix
“We are still seeing exactly how deep this rabbit hole goes,” they wrote.
Previously Mr Dujan has described the fight between unblocking services and Netflix as “a game of cat and mouse” where unblockers inevitably find ways to circumvent a crackdown, and Netflix has to catch up. uFlix customer Richard Boulton said he hoped uFlix would be able to keep one step ahead of Netflix.
Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings. Photo: Bloomberg
Another popular unblocking service, Getflix, said it too had found a way around the geo-block.
In a tweet, the company said it had made system updates which ensured its “most popular Netflix regions” were not affected by recent changes to Netflix’s service. The workarounds couldn’t have come sooner for the many Netflix customers who threatened to cancel their subscriptions in the wake of the company’s crackdown on so-called “geo-dodging”.
uNoGS lets you browse Netflix everywhere. Photo: David Paul Morris
“When I heard the news I was unsure if you [Getflix] could still provide access [to the Netflix US library],” Chris Cumberland posted on Getflix’s Facebook page. “But now I know I’ll be continuing my subscription.”
Another Getflix user, Brayden Hulett, said he was “thrilled to know that Getflix have been so proactive about this”.
According to website Netflixable, which tracks new titles as they are released to Netflix in each region, Netflix’s US catalogue is almost three times as large as Australia’s, at about 6900 titles compared to about 2500. While Netflix owns global licensing rights to most of its original series, such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, many other titles are constrained by content licensing arrangements which differ from region to region.
Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings has said in the past that Netflix is working to break down these archaic business models. He also said the company’s decision to step up enforcement of geo-blocking was at the behest of the film and television studios which own the rights to its streaming content.
How To Watch Anything You Want On Netflix
Well, not quite anything – but anything Netflix has the rights to stream in at least one country.
Now that you know how to get around the geo-blocking offensive, you’ll want to know how to make the most of Netflix’s global catalogue. Each country’s Netflix catalogue differs, which means that even though the US Netflix is bigger than Australia’s, you might find a title here or there in the Australian catalogue – or some other country – that is missing from the US catalogue.
Introducing “uNoGS” – or the unofficial Netflix online Global Search – a new website that lets you search Netflix’s catalogue across all countries where it’s active. (Which is now almost everywhere.) You can search by the country available, title, genre, length and release date; and you can filter by ratings from IMDb and from Netflix itself.
It’s simply a matter of finding out which country has the title you’re after, and changing your (not blocked) internet proxy or VPN settings so that Netflix thinks you’re in that country. You’ll then be browsing that country’s Netflix library within the Netflix app, and can locate the title from there. uNoGS also provides its own pointers on which VPN, proxy or DNS provider to use for the region you want, although we can’t guarantee any of these has found a workaround to the recent crackdown.
The site’s creator, Brian, told TorrentFreak he built uNoGS for himself because the few similar services that existed were “extremely limited in terms of search functionality”.
“I wanted to be able to see what was available in every country, when it was added, when it was supposed to expire and when it actually expired,” he said. “Once I completed the initial build for myself I decided to share it with everyone.”
“Your sense when you’re in the VR experience is you’re in Nyarri’s country,” she says. “You’re invited there. You are welcomed and you understand for this brief period of time you’re fortunate enough to be present.”
This article originally appeared in Digital Life, The Sydney Morning Herald’s home for everything technology. Follow Digital Life on Facebook and Twitter.
Comments
12 responses to “US Netflix Blocked? Here’s How To Fix It And Watch Everything”
Unblock-us went down as well. Their set of instructions for their solution works, but I’m finding I have to redo the instructions each day
getflix works like magic, i had no outage at all
*fingers crossed it’ll stay the same*
I’m using Virtual Private Network (VPN) for last 2 and I would recommend others because it Unblocks Netflix (US) in Australia or other regions. The best VPN for Netflix http://www.vpnlogics.com/best-vpn-for-netflix/ encrypts the internet traffic and sends it through a secure tunnel using advanced technology. It evades the ISP from monitoring your browser activities. VPN has dedicated Servers for each purpose which means you can anonymously download torrents using P2P file-sharing.
I use nordvpn http://bit.ly/nordvpn-netflix costs 4 bucks a month and I can access Netflix content from every country. You can change the settings via phone so it’s perfect if you are to lazy to go to your computer and do it there.
I use Hidemyass VPN and have never had a problem accessing Netflix US.
I use HMA as well, but I haven’t been able to access Netflix US all week. Which gateway you are connecting through?
I connect through Los angles(LOC1), I was connected last night without any problems.
just checked today, purevpn started working fine with US Netflix.
Is there a way to get US netflix with my smart tv alone (instead of using, for example, my PC through VPN connected to TV)?
SmartDNSproxy.com will let you do this. Plug their DNS server ip in to your TV’s settings and you should be GTG. Other services probably have a similar offering.
The creackdown has already started. Netflix is actually blocking the whole IPs pool that VPNs are using. But some of the VPNs such as Ivacy is still working fine. The proxies and smartdns have already been blocked to quite an extent.
So Private Internet Access has been blocked for a few days now, and this is the response I got from them today. It’s surprising and disappointing – I hope Lifehacker/Gizmodo note this attitude in their next VPN round-up.
“I’m sorry, however we’re unable to assist you with accessing content that’s blocked by location. In order to comply with all local and international laws pertaining to content blocked by geographic region (more commonly known as “geo-locked content”), we are unable to provide support or assistance in accessing restricted content via our service. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Detailed information pertaining to this change can be found in the following article within our KnowledgeBase: https://support.privateinternetaccess.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/143
Sorry for the inconvenience.”
HMA does not work anymore. I am in the UK and used to be able to access Netflix US, Bravo, Hulu, but now ever server I try (well over 30) tells me that I’m using a proxy anonymous and Im denied access. I will not renew my subscribtion to HMA and I need to find another VPN that really works.