Getflix gateway to geo-blocked content
February 17, 2014
By Colin Mann
Australian company Getflix has launched offering residents there, in New Zealand and South-East Asia the ability to access entertainment streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu Plus using virtual private network (VPN) technology to ‘trick’ the geo-blocked services into thinking the user is streaming from the US.
Getflix powers the operation with its own DNS servers, explaining on its website that only a small number of connections to Netflix and Hulu Plus get re-routed via its servers. “The actual video is streamed from Netflix or Hulu Plus directly to you so Getflix is much faster and more reliable than an alternative VPN or tunnel solution,” it says.
Subscribing to the service costs AUD$2.95 per month, with users still required to take out Hulu Plus or Netflix subscriptions (USD$7.95 p.m.).
The legality of the service is questionable, with the practice of using VPNs to circumvent geo-blocking subscription restrictions being frowned upon.