If you have ever traveled abroad, then you might have run into this common problem called Geoblocking. This is when you try to connect to some of your favorite websites and you noticed that you cannot access them.
As long as you’re in a different country, those sites are unavailable. This can be frustrating. But don’t you worry as I will be guiding you on how to solve this problem.
Geoblocking
It turns out that you simply can overcome this problem once you unblock sites with access to a VPN. To reach this point, it helps to understand better what’s happening.
What Is Geoblocking?
This is referred to as a practice where websites restrict access to content depending on the user’s location. A common example is Netflix.
The Netflix website is accessed worldwide, and films and shows are curated depending on the country where the user is currently.
In other words, if you log in from France, you’ll see different content compared to someone who logs in from South Korea. The content is attempting to cater to specific audiences, but Netflix goes a step further.
Some shows and films are utterly unavailable to South Korean audiences, which are available in France. Users in every country will encounter this problem when using Netflix.
How Does it Work?
From a technological perspective, Geoblocking is pretty simple. Any accessed website has got to have your IP address to communicate along with your device.
In a literal sense, the site has to know where to send information to interact with you. Your IP address is known as a code that defines your physical location.
Since any website you access needs your IP address to interact with it, it’s very easy for web designers to make restrictions based on location.
Using the Netflix example, it needs to know where you’re to send the video stream. So that it can write code that blocks you from seeing content depending on your IP address.
Why Do Sites Geoblock?
Why does geoblocking even exist? Why shouldn’t users from France and South Korea see similar content and choose what to view for themselves?
On the surface, that looks like an easy question, but this is more complicated than that. What’s legal in one country might not be legal in every country, which is very true on the net. You may consider things that should be banned, but the culture in another country will not agree with you.
Netflix could be able to negotiate the rights to broadcast a French film, but not internationally. Between regulation and contract restrictions, then Geoblocking becomes necessary.
How Can You Avoid Geoblocking?
Regardless of why a site engages in this act, you will not want to deal with it and may overcome this issue. If you need to access international content despite where you are, then the answer is easy.
You only need to trick the site into thinking that you are currently in a different country. The easy method to do this is with a VPN.
Virtual private networks route your internet activity through a server. The server acts as a middleman, and it can make a site think that you are located at the server’s IP address.
So, if you’ll find a VPN server in a country with the content you would like, you just connect through that VPN, then the content will be unlocked.
It might sound complicated, but the practice is simple. Once you use your VPN service, there’ll be a menu that permits you to select a country.
After that, all websites will think you’re located in that country and respond accordingly. You may switch to a different country any time you choose, which unlocks the entire internet.
