Unblocking websites with a VPN

More and more often, content or websites you attempt to access are blocked or geo restricted based on your location. It doesn’t take the most advanced computer user to bypass these blocks however, a VPN application is often only 2-3 clicks away from allowing you free access to whatever websites you want to visit.

A VPN serves as a middleman for your internet connection, that allows your connection to “tunnel” through the country of your choice. This can mean a couple of things for you.

If you’re in a country that censors or blocks websites that you’re able to visit, then a VPN allows your internet connection to “leave” your country and by doing that bypass the internet censorship and any website blocks.

The other common scenario is that you’re trying to access a website or content that is only available to visitors or users from a certain country. For example, the BBC iPlayer only allows visitors from within the UK to view it. If you’re outside the UK, then you can use a VPN to connect through a server inside the VPN — regardless of where you are. As far as the iPlayer is concerned all it sees it your UK connection and so you’re able to access it.

This applies to more than just the iPlayer, it can apply to anything from Netflix (to get access to other countries movie libraries) to Hulu or certain news websites.