Danny Gorog16 February 2009, 2:00 PM
Ever wondered how you can access US only Internet sites from Australia? It's easy, and free.
Living in Australia has many advantages. Beautiful beaches; plentiful supplies of cheap Australian beef; a reasonable democracy and pollution levels on the lower end of the scale. However, one distinct disadvantage is being treated as second rate citizens when it comes to internet performance, and being blocked from many streaming media services that require US based IP addresses. With mandatory ISP level filtering
coming to all Australian internet connections soon, these problems are only going to get worse.
Enter public VPN services that can mask your IP address, which means you can access sites anywhere and appear to be coming from an internet connection in the United States. Also, your traffic is passed through an encrypted tunnel, which means that unless your ISP or the Australian government blocks the entire VPN service you're connected to, you'll be free and clear of all centralised government internet filters. (Can't believe we're even discussing this topic in Australia... it's the kind of thing you usually only need to worry about on a trip to China.)
Public VPN services have other advantages too - because your IP address is hidden while you're online you can access content without worrying about anyone (like your ISP) monitoring what you're doing. VPNs can give you extra security against 'man in the middle' interception too. The data you send and receive while connected will be encrypted with most VPN services and this is a great security benefit if you are accessing sensitive information over a public Internet connection like a WiFi hotspot.
There are a range of public VPN services available, some paid and others supported by advertising. Most providers offer support for Windows, OS X, Linux and even a range of smartphone OS's including iPhone, S60 and Windows Mobile.
Its freeware app that installs easily - the only catch to using it is that you'll occasionally need to click on a advertising link before you can access the site you want. But after you've clicked, the 'web's your oyster'. I was able to watch TV programs on
Hulu (including US commercials) and listen to music with
Pandora.
If you want an ad free option you can use a paid services like Publicvpn.com. These services are normally configured via the built-in VPN software that comes with your operating system. Services like
PublicVPN or
HotSpotVPN cost between USD$7 and $10 per month - a relatively small price to pay for unlimited site availability and a secure connection.