Use Linux to watch Netflix outside the US, for nearly free (without paying for a tunnel)

Some services line Netflix have an annoying geolocation restriction that made them unavailable outside the United States. In case of Netflix, this is due to licensing issues. In case of Netflix, it's not a slim difference: do you want to be able to access just over one thousand movies, or would you prefer to have access to over thirteen thousand movies?

Unfortunately, getting around the geolocation issue is not for everybody: it's based on the principle of browsing the Internet bouncing off an IP address (Internet address) located in the US (instead of using your own IP address, geolocated wherever you are).

One common way of doing so is by using a tunnel: in short, you are creating a "virtual cable" to a host in the US, and are using that virtual cable to direct all of your Internet traffic. Using a tunnel, magically, you are located in the US as far as anybody else is concerned.

The problem with tunnels is that they are expensive: the average price is around $5/month. That's nearly the cost of your whole Netflix subscription, just for the privilege of using Netflix in the first place!

Well, there is another solution -- one that I consider much better.

First of all: type "what is my IP" in Google, and write down the result.

Full Story