Licensing issues aside (I’d gladly pay to watch BBC abroad, but they don’t give me the option)….

using Unlocator, but this is the first time this has happened.

any free VPN sites i can use to view iPlayer content?

Browser or device? Operas in-built VPN is easy to use and reliable. (Free too)

don’t know what you mean with “Browser or device? “. guess it is the Unlocator website that is playing up.

Opera.
i shall give it a go….
cheers

Same for me (on unlocater) but I rarely watch anything on the BBC now anyway, so I am not motivated to hunt around for alternatives. I will give them a chance to fix it, but it has been coming on and off for a couple of weeks, looks like the BBC might be playing whack a mole with vpn providers like netflix did 6 months or so ago. IF the BBC are motivated to then they will win the game.

Be weary of “FREE” vpn’s they are businesses and have to monetize you somehow, often by selling you as a vpn endpoint for someone else. I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole.

agree MSP…. but needs must. i can not stand German tevelvision.

really wanted to download Dragons Den for the GF.

have downloaded Opera, but not having any luck with that either… even after realizing i had to turn the VPN on.

@alpin

Sorry, I should have said at the router or just via a browser but you got past my cryptic message.

By default the VPN is off (as you discovered) when on it defaults to a local IP, you’ll need to delve into the settings to set it to UK.

BBC have been clamping down on IPs that they know come from VPNs/ smart DNSs, I believe. Various services have been having problems, it seems.

Of course, for something like unlocator, it doesn’t help that when they get it back up they announce it on Twitter – presumably BBC tech folks then know to go and find the new exit IP…

I was thinking about setting up a vpn endpoint on a raspberry pi and leaving it at my parents house next time I am in the UK.

Not used iplayer for ages, but I was using it thru a VPS in a London data centre. Just do an ssh tunnel either via linux command line or run putty on windows.

OK it costs $10/month but that’s cheaper than a UK licence that us German residents can’t have, I think?

The last time I used that was when it simply asked yes/no if you have a UK TV licence. How does it work now that you are supposed to register an account?

Only German TV I watch is F1 on RTL. The rest, as you say, is pants.

Still have my 80cm satellite dish pointed toward the “wrong” satellite. Not my problem if BBC irradiate my dish with their overspill signal 😉

I have always used paid vpn (Strong) but even that has been blocked for things like Channel 4. iPlayer still works on mine (well did 4 months ago when I last used it), as I have a uk tv licence I took the view i’d never be prosecuted for vpn use abroad

Me too with express vpn(blocked that is)

Drop the VPN provider a line and they usually come back pretty quick with a new IP address.

Thinking a bit more about this. I would happily buy a UK license just for access to IPlayer.

Sadly that is never going to happen due to sporting rights and programs being sold overseas.

Yep never will, they can handle sports (plenty just don’t broadcast stuff like that online) the money they get (got) from things like top gear and Dr Who make international license fee’s seem tiny. Netflix etc are picking a lot up along with the other free to airs in places like Oz

Problem with advertised VPN’s for stuff like this is it’s easy for the BBC to track and block. I tried for amazon prime before it came here and it lasted a few days max.

It’s IP whack-a-mole.

I use tunnelbear and it works 90% of the time. When it doesn’t, tunneling through Ireland has been faultless.

same issue again tonight….

no Dragon’s Den for the GF….

I use unblock us too, its not as good as it used to be because netflix were pushed to deal with them but its worth $5 pm for player in opinion

I’d happily subscribe if it was an available paid service

I’ve been using unotelly for the last 5 years here in oz without any sort of issue – but it seems like they’ve gone under 🙁

Now using unblock-Us….. it works, but seeing a lot more buffering.

As an aside – is the new iPlayer app (samsung smart TV) as buggy as sh*t for everyone? have switched to using my apple TV as the app on the smart TV is almost unusable since being updated.

I have used Ghost VPN with some success in the past, but checking now it seems to be down for London and Manchester servers.

I was thinking about setting up a vpn endpoint on a raspberry pi and leaving it at my parents house next time I am in the UK.

Only problem is that your downlink would be their uplink, which is normally only a few Mb/s on DSL/Cable even if they have 50 Mb/s downlink.

That’s not a major problem, unless iPlayer etc. have drastically changed the way things work?

The html stuff for the webpage gets routed thru the VPN (or in my case VPS/SSH tunnel), but the actual video content is peer to peer between the CDN and you.

Not a VPN but as an expat solution to watching TV, I can recommend TVMucho. There’s a free hour a day but for 7 Euros a month, you have unlimited TV. Android app or browser.

I must have recommended it to 20+ people here in Thailand in the last couple of weeks and all are delighted.

Unlocator is broken. I’ve switched to another service but I’ve also been tinkering with my own Amazon based VPN which works perfectly so far.

That’s not a major problem, unless iPlayer etc. have drastically changed the way things work?

The html stuff for the webpage gets routed thru the VPN (or in my case VPS/SSH tunnel), but the actual video content is peer to peer between the CDN and you.

All depends on where they filter IP addresses, if the CDN bit checks for a non-UK IP, it won’t work…

Here’s a compromise for UK TV programmes abroad, but you’ll have to put up with old-fashioned “appointment-to-view” broadcasts.

Filmon.tv

Also the picture quality is not top notch if you cast to the telly, especially the Brit channels. And of course Europe clocks are an hour ahead of UK clocks.

On the upside, you can access Al-Jazeera and France24 if you want actual news rather than the parochial slush and drivel churned out by the BBC.

…. and again.