Wrong! There's a technology, called VPN, not really meant for bypassing stupid license restrictions, but it does the trick anyway. How? It tunnels all your connections to websites through another server. In our case, "another server" is a server sitting in the U.S., waiting for us to stream our favorite TV show, purchase music in the Android Market and calling friends using Google Voice. You can read more about this technology at Wikipedia, but the only thing that really matters is, that websites (like Hulu and Google) think you're located in the U.S. when you're using an according VPN. There are some more benefits listed here under "Benefits of using a VPN".
The best thing is, you don't have to travel to the U.S. now and set up a server there in order to get U.S.-only content, which would end up in a lot of time, brainpower and money spent. That's the job of services like HideMyAss. They're maintaining a huge set of servers, located all over the world (they even have a server running in small countries like Austria) and offering you to connect via VPN to whatever website and services you like. Depending on your definition of "expensive", HideMyAss is really worth the money. A one month subscription costs approximately $12, ranging up to a one year subscription costing only $80. I for myself, have started with purchasing one month in order to test the service, but since I'm very satisfied with it I'm going to get a one year subscription soon...
For me, the most important thing is Chromebook compatibility. At first, Chromebooks didn't support VPN at all. Now Google is working on supporting various VPN technologies. I'm not sure if this is already available in all versions of Chrome OS, but running Dev Channel Platform version 1412.64.0 I'm happy to tell you that it is possible to connect to HMA! VPNs directly from your Chromebook. And it isn't even a lot of work! Let's take a look at the configuration steps...
- Sign up for HMA! I suggest using this link, as I'm getting a little bonus for everyone who signs up using this link. ;)
- Order whatever package (one month, one year, ...) you want and wait a few hours until they send you an e-mail with instructions on how to set up HMA! For me, I got the mail after 12 hours. HMA! said it sometimes takes 24 hours to complete your purchase... Be patient. It's worth the wait.
- Go here, sign in using your username and password.
- Click "PPTP servers" on the left, or use this link.
- You can find your credentials under "Login details". Write down your username and password.
- Choose a server from "Server list" (one from "North America - United States of America") and write down the "PPTP IP address" (for example, "184.171.165.2")
- Click the Connection icon on the upper left (the one you're using for connecting to a WiFi)
- Click "Private networks" - "Add private network..."
- A dialog pops up asking you for the VPN configuration. It looks like a lot of work, but it's easy if you follow these instructions:
- "Server hostname": fill in the "PPTP IP address" you have written down before. This is the IP address of a server maintained by HMA!
- "Service name": is any string, describing the connection for you, for example "HMA! US VPN"
- "Provider type": is by default "L2TP/IPsec + Pre-shared key". That's fine.
- "Pre-shared key": fill in "HideMyAss"
- "Username" and "Password" are your "Login details" you've written down before
You can find a screenshot of a correctly filled in dialog at the left. Yours should look similar after completing these steps. Your Chromebook should start connecting to your shiny VPN after you have clicked "Connect". (Note: you can see it is connecting when a little lock is showing up and disappearing again periodically on the lower left of your Connection icon. It is being displayed constantly when you're successfully connected to your VPN.)
You're now ready to test your VPN. Let's start with something simple: www.google.com. It works? Great! Move on to www.hulu.com and enjoy. If visiting Google doesn't work ("This webpage is not available") try disconnecting from your VPN and connecting again. If that doesn't work either, reboot your Chromebook and connect to your VPN again (using the Connection icon - "Private networks..." - "HMA! US VPN", or whatever you have called it before).
I hope these steps helped you get your VPN up and running and consume some U.S.-only content. If you have any problems setting it up, feel free to ask me in the comments and I'll try to help you.
Again, if you plan to get yourself a VPN from HideMyAss, I would love you using this link for signing up, because it's getting me some money. I'm really happy with their service so far. Their support responds within a day, you are at no risk with their 30 day money back guarantee ("for whatever reason"!) and the VPNs are fast enough for using it every day. You can find a speedtest below, the left one being ran without VPN:
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| Speedtest without VPN |
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| Speedtest with VPN |
That's near native speed! Holy crap. However, keep in mind that 1. your results could vary depending on your connection and selected server and 2. if, for example, I visited a website located in Austria, it would load slower than without a VPN.
As of January 14th, 2012 there is a bug making your VPN experience a bit annoying: every 5 minutes or so, it automatically disconnects from your VPN and you can't reconnect unless you log out and in again, or delete your VPN and configure it again. The Chrome OS developers are aware of this problem and you can keep track of this problem here and here. Star this issue in order to get it fixed earlier...
A workaround for now is opening a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and starting an endless ping using ping google.com. This seems to work fine for me.
Thanks man.I'm getting a new chromebook too. And I need to access Netflix and Hulu from outside the U.S. My only question is, how stable is the connection for you?
ReplyDeleteIt's quite stable.
DeleteHowever, for now there's a free alternative: http://www.mediahint.com/