15 December 2009

How to Watch Internet Television Anywhere in the World

So you want to watch Internet Television but you don't live in the United States, right? Real bummer, we know. After-all, why do the Americans get all the good stuff and what about the rest of the world? It almost makes all those Middle East nut-cases sound right when they say that America is the Great Satan. But never fear. There are several alternatives available for your viewing pleasure.

We all know of course that Hulu is not available at all outside the United States (though they do have plans to start offering their services in the UK, it has not been done yet and has been delayed until some time in 2010.

Not to mention that it doesn't help if you happen to live in Australia or really anywhere else in Europe or the world. For that matter even the poor Canadians can't get Hulu because of the silly restrictions). There are ways to get around this problem though.

One of the ways is to use a free program called Hotspot Shield. Hotspot Shield uses a technology called a Virtual Private Network, which is a fancy way of saying that everything you do is shielded from the rest of the broader Internet.

It's primary purpose is to provide security so that when you access your bank account at the local Starbucks you don't have to be concerned about the possibility of someone eves dropping on your information (of course it doesn't help keep people's eyes away - that's still your problem).

But for our purposes, Hotspot Shield is a good choice for watching Internet Television overseas because of the fact that it allows you to have an American IP address.

This is very important since Hulu (and for that matter, virtually every other web site which restricts who can use its content) checks your IP address and from that can tell where in the world you are (yes, we know, very Big Brother of them, but there it is all the same.).

The problem with Hotpsot Shield however is that you have a limited amount of download time per month before it will block you out completely (and lets face it, that Simpsons episode you're longing to see takes a lot of bandwidth), Plus, there are ads at the bottom of your screen. A better choice instead would be to use a private Virtual Private Network, either by setting one up with a friend in the States or by paying for a service.

One choice many people like to use is Witopia which is reasonably inexpensive while providing unlimited bandwidth and no ads. You can find others though through a simple good search and then you can go ahead and watch all the Internet television you want!

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