HIDE YOUR IP?

potus

Active member
Dec 27, 2015
549
90
28
Quick question: There are many web sites and videos I can not access in this country. Can anyone recommand a free service to hide the IP address. Speed is not so important.....

I am a bit hasitant to give out my CC to these services that I do not know how real they afre. (Yes, I know, I need to get Pay Pal....).

Thank you.
 

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
40,964
936
113
There are numerous, reputable high-speed proxies on the web.

I use ghost proxies to watch college football using our US sat TV service credentials (CBS & ESPN mainly). It also works for video hosts with geographical blocking.
 

Cdn_Gringo

Gold
Apr 29, 2014
8,670
1,132
113
Opera browser has a builtin free VPN. So does Epic browser.

Google "free vpn" and take your pick.
 

Bob K

Silver
Aug 16, 2004
2,520
121
63
Who is your service through? With DeLancer they will give you a Miami IP address if you ask them.
We have used this for years.

Bob K
 

chico bill

Dogs Better than People
May 6, 2016
12,543
6,306
113
I heard Delancer was not going to give out Miami IPs any longer ?

I use Express VPN - but it only seems to work when you set the geographical location to Washington DC (at least it seems to work) but I want to convert to a flash router to get all devices into the VPN. The companies are also getting smarter knowing when you are masking your location (Especially Amazon).
My question is if anyone is masking an IP with Claro Fiber service and how ?
I may try the Smart DNS Proxy that Expat mentioned.
There is a good business waiting for a super smart IP guy to help people set up cable/fiber/VPN service on the North Coast
 

SKY

Gold
Apr 11, 2004
13,450
3,590
113
https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/

I have been using this one for years. Never had one instance that it failed. And the speed does not slow down no matter which IP you use. I could post the places available, they are all over World.

Cost is $40 US a year, well worth it. And you are not limited to one device.

Nice to wake up and be in France to see French adds pop up. LOL
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
5,808
946
113
I use Express VPN with a Linksys WRT AC1900ACS router.

I have the option of choosing which devices use the VPN and which go through direct.

Also wired a 2 port Ethernet switch going to my computer so I can change the computer instantly as to whether it uses the VPN router or connects directly bypassing the VPN router.

The reason for this is at times the VPN goes down and the router is set to stop all devices that are using the VPN service to halt. That option can be turned off, but is not recommended. With the switch I have the option when to make that decision.

Thinking about switching to "PrivateInternetAccess" that Sky is using.
Need to research it more.

Sky, are you positive it never failed, or is it set to continue accessing the Internet, bypassing the VPN when the VPN goes down? They ALL go down at times.


Don
 

Cdn_Gringo

Gold
Apr 29, 2014
8,670
1,132
113
Using a VPN is not a guarantee of hassle free anonymous surfing from Mumbai all the time.

Large VPN providers have an extensive block of IP addresses that they can swap into service when when one or more of the addresses they currently use becomes known by those companies that dedicate themselves to enforcing geo-location locks - Amazon being a good example.

It is standard practice for your ISP to assign an IP to your account that for the most part does not change on its own very often. You can instruct your system to request a new IP address and of course the ISP can change it up anytime they want. The problem crops up when the media sites log the IP addresses used by their customers. You will notice that if you log into Amazon on Monday morning from Washington you may get in unchallenged. If you then change your vpn location and log into Amazon this time from Los Angeles, expect Amazon to request you to prove who you are before they let you in. Amazon assumes that your IP address is not going to change every six hours.

All of these websites with customer accounts keep records of your IP address when you connect to them. Some unsophisticated VPN services use a limited number of IP address when forwarding your traffic from their servers to the site you wish to interact with. It is not an uncommon occurrence for John Smith to contact netflix from the same IP address that Jane Does uses if both of them happen to use the same VPN server. The VPN needs to know who to send the returning data to when it comes back to the server. To do this, the VPN puts an identifier in the data packets it sends to Amazon, that Amazon echos back in their response data packets. If Amazon can identify this identifier consistently, then Amazon can use it to block traffic as coming from a VPN. Amazon may not know where you are, just that you are using a VPN and that may be enough for Amazon to refuse to serve up the media you want.

Netflix can reasonably assume that these two customers who live no where near each other cannot reasonably be using the same IP address therefore, something hinky is going on. There are other ways to identify vpn use and now we see some companies such as Vyprvpn coming out with protocols that attempt to mask vpn usage (Chameleon protocol). They seem to work, but in the cat and mouse game of "catch me if you can", for how long these techniques will be viable remains to be seen.

We are fast approaching the time when more than one vpn provider will be needed. For those companies that actively enforce location restrictions for access to the products and services they offer, it is becoming more and more important to establish a consistent false geo-location. In the case of Amazon, even though you may live in the DR, always logging into Amazon from Detroit via your vpn keeps amazon happy for the most part. When you frequently bounce around the US using different vpn server locations, your account stands out as being "not normal" and you can find yourself lacking access to content based on the Amazon's reasonable assumption that you are trying to bypass their content restrictions.

Free VPN services are extremely vulnerable in this regard because so many people are using the limited IP assignments that eventually numerous accounts on the same website begin showing up using the same set of identifiable IP addresses and the website just outright blocks those IPs.

It would be prudent not to invest a lot of $$$ in expensive routers preconfigured to only work with a specific VPN provider or pay for VPN accounts for extended periods of time in advance as there is no guarantee that any single VPN service will be able to give you access to Amazon (or anywhere else) forever. The VPN sites know this so offer you incentives to sign up for a year or more at a time usually with no way to secure a refund if you want to use netflix but 6 months down the road you no longer can with that vpn service.

The user also has to be careful how they use these vpn services, adopting practices that mask their real location in a normal sort of way. It is no longer good enough to not be "outside of the USA". You now need to appear to be in the USA and in the same place within the USA for long period of time just like normal people.

Delancer's Miami IP address was/is a really useful option for it's customers. The US IP address that all Delancer customers used was a legitimate bonafide US IP address assigned to a large ISP (Comcast). Despite may users access accessing the same sites with the same address, the Comcast IP was never challenged. The Delancer US IP changed frequently because the habits of its many customers caused all sorts of problems. The IP often got onto spam email lists, associated with various degrees of fraudulent activity and of course was a nonroutable IP address - the door could only be opened by traffic coming from the DR to somewhere else. Nothing could originate somewhere else and get to the right customer in the DR.

Delancer may be changing their practices at the behest of Comcast who may no longer wish to be reassigning IP addresses for bulk customer use. I've decided to pay Delancer each month for a unique Miami IP address over using a VPN exclusively just because this legitimate Comcast IP is less vulnerable to being blocked for geo-location. I will still use a VPN to connect to streaming services from servers also in Miami to further protect my "legit" US IP address for as long as it is possible to us a vpn to do that.
 

SKY

Gold
Apr 11, 2004
13,450
3,590
113
I use Express VPN with a Linksys WRT AC1900ACS router.

I have the option of choosing which devices use the VPN and which go through direct.

Also wired a 2 port Ethernet switch going to my computer so I can change the computer instantly as to whether it uses the VPN router or connects directly bypassing the VPN router.

The reason for this is at times the VPN goes down and the router is set to stop all devices that are using the VPN service to halt. That option can be turned off, but is not recommended. With the switch I have the option when to make that decision.

Thinking about switching to "PrivateInternetAccess" that Sky is using.
Need to research it more.

Sky, are you positive it never failed, or is it set to continue accessing the Internet, bypassing the VPN when the VPN goes down? They ALL go down at times.


Don



I really cannot answer your last query. I only know that when a site does not allow me in I use it and it gets me in.
 

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
40,964
936
113
I have Firefox (now newer and much lighter) configured to use a proxy, and Chrome to use the assigned Claro IP. So if I get blocked in Chrome, I just open FF. Easy peasy.

Ghost Proxy is high speed so there is no loss of bandwidth.
 

chico bill

Dogs Better than People
May 6, 2016
12,543
6,306
113
The best solution is a vpn router so your TN can ,i,ic a us IP then you get US Netflix, Amazon Prime (with the right VPN) and you can use Chromecast and Amazon's Alexa, Firestick or Google Home device - in case you are fat and a drunk and you want to listen to music or turn on the bedroom light with just your voice.

"Alexa Make be a Sandwich and Bring me a Bohemia"
 

ljmesg

New member
Aug 6, 2017
526
1
0
I tried ipvanish...tried at least 50 different Ips and zero luck getting through the Amazon wall.

I think Hulu is a lost cause too...
 

Dreamer799

New member
Mar 25, 2005
24
0
1
I used NordVPN last time. It worked getting me into every site I tried, but I didn't try Amazon streaming. I did login to Amazon to order Kindle books but it required a Captcha test (this is just an extra step required because Amazon can detect a common VPN IP). I tried to watch live football on Fubo and it sucked. All VPNs will slow you down, so I think streaming suffers overall. I am headed to SDQ tonight and I will try Amazon Prime and Netflix with NordVPN and let you know. I am not endorsing NordVPN as I can't get it to work on Android and it is difficult to use with Linux. I am bringing by Linux machine this time. Will let you know how I make out.
 

Buffness

Self-imposed banned🫢
Oct 9, 2014
369
200
43
Thinking about switching to "PrivateInternetAccess" that Sky is using.
Need to research it more.

Sky, are you positive it never failed, or is it set to continue accessing the Internet, bypassing the VPN when the VPN goes down? They ALL go down at times.


Don



We cancelled expressvpn last week thinking PrivateInternetAccess would do the same job for half the price . In particular we wanted to test Netfliks , Hulu live tv , internet speed and such ... results ...?
PROS - easy and quick to sign up , no major resdcution in speed , cheap ...
CONS ...didnot work on Netfliks or Hulu !!! Tried several devices , no joy , then saw several posts from other users complaining about the same on their site . 7 bucks wasted. 
CONCLUSION - went right back to expressvpn . Cancelled PIA .