If you are trying to watch any UK based TV catch up services such as BBC iPlayer in France please read my review of HideIPVPN.com  Whilst working in my day job as a satellite TV installer in France, aside from the question "Can you get me Sky Sports for free" the most common demand is "How can I watch the BBC iplayer?"

Those of you familiar with the "Currently BBC iPlayer TV programmes are available to play in the UK only" message will understand.

I recently decided to look into the various options available to ex pat’s living in France. To cut a long story short I tried IP hiding sites, dodgy IP proxies, software that claimed to change your IP address etc etc, but nothing really worked.

Then I found the solution.

When you try and connect to a UK service that prohibits access from abroad the site is looking for specific IP addresses (the unique code given to your computer by your internet service provider) . It looks for UK based addresses and even if you are hiding your IP address you still cannot gain access. So you need to be connected through a UK server. This is not only possible but it is incredibly simple to achieve. HideIPVPN.com is a company that hosts two Virtual Private Network servers, one in the UK and another in the US. Anyone connected to the servers can surf the net as if they were actually in the country of choice. BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, Channel 4 OD and Demand 5 are easily accessible when connected to the UK server, and if you are not a Sky 1 subscriber, Lost and Stargate Universe are available free on US catch-up services like Hulu.com.

Sound to good to be true? Well there is a small catch. Although a free version of HideIPVPN is available to the first 100 people who sign up each month, these freebies are snapped up within an hour, so you have to be quick. The free servers are also more heavily populated and may be slower during periods of high traffic. However the premium services, hosted on their own high speed servers are exceptional value for money. The UK service is available for only $5.99 per month. That’s around 4€ monthly or 14c per day. The US service is the same price singularly, or you can subscribe to both for $9.99 (~ 6.69€) per month. If you pay 6 monthly you can save even more.

Both sign up and set up are simple. Just go to www.hideipvpn.com click on Premium US/UK VPN, choose the service you want, click order now and follow the Paypal payment instructions. You then receive an e-mail with your username and a password. It took me less than 5 minutes from receiving the e-mail to watching BBC iPlayer. I found the UK server allowed me to watch all the catch-up services full screen with no buffering issues, but when I was testing the US server I could only watch the standard screen. This may have been a temporary issue and I will review this again at a later date.

Here are the links to the setup instructions for Windows XP

http://www.hideipvpn.com/2009/09/howto-windows-xp-pptp-vpn-setup-tutorial/

and Vista

http://www.hideipvpn.com/2009/09/howto-windows-vista-pptp-vpn-setup-tutorial/

Once connected you have unrestricted access to i player etc.

This is a great service in the true sense of the word……………it just works!

Steve

 

• Excellent seafood
•
Terrace with stunning sea views
• Menus from 18€
•
04 68 82 36 00
• Reservations essential for terrace June - September


             
Our opinion 

Restaurant
   L'AMPHYTRION

17 rue Jean Bart, 
Collioure
.

 

• Friendly & informal
• English spoken
• Menus from 15€
• Open air terrace
• 04 68 81 05 79

 Our opinion 

59 rue Victor Hugo,
 66700
ARGELES village




• Friendly & informal
• English spoken
• Sells draught Guinness
• Large open air terrace
• 04 68 89 76 53

 Our opinion 

 

 

• Friendly & informal
• English spoken
• High quality cuisine
• Outside  terrace
• 04 68 89 00 44

 Our opinion