Netflix clamping down on geo-dodgers

Technology and Internet
#1

I just read this article in the SMH about Netflix apparently about to clamp down on those of us using services like Getflix to access different Netflix regions around the world.

What’s your take on this?

I’m kind of thinking this is just Netflix once again pretending they’re doing something for the copyright holders but in reality not much will happen. That’s besides what will likely be a game of cat and mouse for Netflix to be able to block these services anyway.

For what it’s worth, if I did get restricted to Netflix Australia I’d probably get rid of it and stick with Stan, which in my opinion has much better content when we’re comparing just the Australian region.

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Getflix Changes?
#2

I’m guessing they’ll do the minimum they can get away with doing :slight_smile:

#3

I’m sure Getflix are quaking in their boots !!

#4

We’ve been down this path before. But, it will depend on who is applying pressure to them, what kind of pressure it is, and whether they can withstand it.

#5

When you use one of those netflix search engines that go through every country’s netflix catalogue, you realise that even the US netflix has a lot of stuff missing that might be available in other netflix catalogues.

A universal app that grabs from whatever netflix catalogue has it would have just about anything you could want. A developer could call it “smartflix” :wink:

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#6

Here we go again!

Netflix will evolve to counter these ‘threats’ and the Geoblockers will evolve to counter Netflix.

It’s like the jailbreakers when a new release/update of iOS is announced.

#7

Let the arms race begin…

#8

What are people using?

I’ve been trying out SmartDNS, which works great because I just set it up on our router and DHCP server. Then no need for apps or other clients to be installed.

#9

I’m with uFlix, which I thought was all the go, though nobody seems to recommend them here anymore. $2 a month or $20 a year gets you a VPN specifically for use with Netflix that allows access to a whole range of different regions. I only tend to use the US one though.

There’s nothing on their site yet about this. Hope they’ve got a strategy worked out.

#10

Ditto. Been a while, works well although very rare downtime couple of times a year.

#11

I’ve moved from uFlix, many of their promised changes have not eventuated. I’ve got Getflix now, as well, on one of their lifetime deals. I switch between the two, according to device. Never tried Unotelly. Unblock-us was OK on the one time I took a trial.

#12

No matter what they put in place, someone will find a way around it.

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#13

I somehow managed to get 30 years of Getflix for like $30 or something a while back. I’ve also got PIA VPN and both of them are still working right now, I probably use the VPN more as I usually watch stuff in the overseas Netflix on my ipad so I just turn on the VPN to the country I want to watch Netflix in, very easy. I’m also still paying for Netflix in USD which still works out cheaper than buying it locally (I’m not sure there’s any way for me to change that, actually, apart from switching to a new account in Oz?)

#14

Yep, there is. You let your subscription expire, turn your VPN off so it detects you’re in Australia and then renew the subscription and it’ll default to the $AU numbers.

My family was subscribing individually in our own households so we got together and got the highest plan which allows 4 simultaneous streams and we split the cost between us. Makes it really cheap.

I do like how Getflix comes with a VPN as well, it’s really good value for money.

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#15

I just got the email below from Uflix:

#16

Shit. That’s not a good sign, anyone know if this is effecting GetFlix users yet?

#17

No issues here as of last night (knock on wood).

#18

Updated email from Uflix:

#19

I haven’t noticed any issues here but I use a VPN not Getflix or uFflix.

#20

I had some issues on my iPad last night. I got a connection error, but not the VPN error, so it might be unrelated. It was happening every 15 minutes or so. I changed it to Getflix’s trial US1 alternate server and it stopped happening.

In any case, if it does affect us it looks like they’ve worked around it anyway.

Edit: I read about blocking public DNS so I did that and switched back to the normal US getflix server and it’s working just fine. So maybe they’re looking at that now too.