QtownDave

heading to Europe and just installed SurfEasy VPN on my iPad with hopes of being able to watch Netflix and Amazon prime movies. Have it set up to show that my IP address is in the USA.

While I understand the theory I've never done this before so wanted to confirm that it will work or if I should do something else before leaving.

Any have first hand insight?

SQ421

It should work.

That said, I much prefer unblock-us (a DNS solution) to VPN for such purposes as it works without the data/traffic overheads that VPN imposes.

DYKWIA

It works fine. I use SurfEasy to connect to the UK Netflix/BBC iPlayer/SkyGo from all over the world.

QtownDave

Great, thanks. Anybody ever use it with hotel wifi? I'm wondering about the performance streaming movies.

gfunkdave

Your hotel wifi will probably be the limiting factor.

DYKWIA

Agreed... Although Netflix seems very good at extracting the most out of a limited bandwidth.

KevinSFO

+1

I have had good experiences using Unblock-us on my trips. It's as easy as changing the DNS address in your network settings.

wco81

I just googled Unblock US and it seems like a VPN company?

Or they offer subscriptions like any other VPN?

I set up VPN on my iMac at home and was able to use HBO Go from Europe. But yeah, Hotel wifi screws it up.

Anyone try www.vpngate.net or hola.org, which are suppose to be free services?

QtownDave

Do you guys mean that streaming a movie via a hotel wifi will not work? If so, is the same true for unblock us?

HDQDD

What we mean is that hotel wi-fi is notoriously slow and *could* have issues with the bandwidth and low to medium latency that streaming requires.

That being said, it depends a lot on where you are going. Last time I was in ARN, my hotel internet tested at 20Mbps down and 15Mbps up. That's the best I've ever seen in a hotel. I've seen hotels in Germany that were under 1 Mbps both ways.

Most US hotels I've tested are about 1-2Mbps both directions which is marginal for streamed video (even at low quality).

wco81

Now a lot of hotels, especially the bigger chains, try to up-sell you on "business class" wifi, which isn't that fast either, maybe a few Mbps.

Plus they have these authentication schemes which make connecting unreliable, inconsistent.

I would say if you must watch media, try to download files to store on your device if you can.

Taiwaned

We have been living in Taiwan, China and Japan now. We have been able to watch Netfix without issue on ipad, android tablet and laptop without issue.

We used witopia when we were in China and Taiwan. Now that we are in Japan, we use a cloakbox wifi router which is more for fixed use than moving around in hotels.

TheCapitan

Very interesting posts, great info here.
Could really have done with this knowledge a couple of weeks ago when stuck in Germany for the weekend - it's strange how much you miss iPlayer when you can't have it.

Netflix access will be a bonus too - especially if you can access the US programming

QtownDave

I'm actually going to be Germany next week and the thought of CNN international, BBC and soccer gives me the chills. As of now I will just hope it will stream well enough at the Intercontinental.

HDQDD

This, this and this.

Those "business class" wifi claims are a joke. At Marriott, I've actually seen them be slower than the normal connection.

Yes, the captive portals are a pain, and even worse, I'd be willing to bet they put streaming QoS near the bottom of priority.

+1 on take it with you. I use Plex. I have a server that automatically downloads OTA shows we watch. Plex Media Server organizes and meta tags them. Then using the Plex app, I have them automatically sync to my iPad. As soon as I watch an episode, it marks it as "watched" and then downloads the next one(s) in queue. I generally keep about 8hrs worth of footage on my iPad for travel. It will also try to download them while I'm on the road, but hotel internet speeds are so low it's rarely successful. If I'm really jonesing for that next episode, I'll break out my hotspot.