No matter what you are doing abroad, whether you're outside your own country for business or pleasure, sometimes it's nice if you can just sit back and relax with your favourite show, album, or video game. Unfortunately, many people were unpleasantly surprised to see that the content they actually want to watch is unavailable in the place they are staying in. The most common and real reason is - geo blocking. 

Now, geo blocking represents the blocking and the restriction of data and content based on your geographic region. This can amount to you not being able to access a service completely, or simply having different, and perhaps lower quality, content at your disposal. Well, the article below will give you the tools and the advice you need to overcome this very annoying feature.

Why does this happen?

There are two elements of geoblocking that you need to consider. First, you need to understand that most likely the geoblocking is happening because of specific restrictions, distribution issues, and generally bureaucratic problems enacted by the content publisher, creator, or producer. But, whatever the reason might be, including the reason being the actual company, you need to know how they figure it out.

Namely, the relevant network will figure out your location by looking at your IP (your internet protocol) address. Every IP is unique, it is your special identity on a specific network, assigned by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). It will change according to your location, and this is where your problems start. Namely, since the network or content provider will notice you have changed your location, they will block you accordingly. Even if your device, your original provider, even your account are from all from a country that has access to the content you are interested in, this won't matter much if your IP currently is in a place that doesn't have the access you want. 

So, what's the solution?

Hide and mask your IP.

Use a VPN

We suggest you sit back and enjoy your favourite content over a free virtual private network. Namely, a VPN (a virtual private network) is the best way to get around geoblocking. It's simple, easy to set up, easy to use, and will get you guaranteed results. Now, when you think of a VPN, you should think of a tunnel. It's a safe space, a tunnel that allows your data to pass freely, to go back and forth between your device and your network. This "tunnel" is there to protect your information, allowing you to stay safe, hidden, and secure.

Namely, a VPN will, among other things, hide your identity. Or rather, it changes it. 

First of all, a VPN will allow you to hide information form hackers, cyber thieves, and generally prying eyes that are looking where they shouldn't. A VPN has the great benefit of protecting your data and sensitive information whenever you need it to do so. 

Now, as far as geoblocked content is concerned, a VPN is there to help you too. When you use a VPN, you latch onto a different server, a server that has its location placed somewhere far away, onto a remote location that you can't really access. It will seem like you are in another country entirely, a country that isn't burdened by these restrictions and issues.

Use Proxy sites

A very simple thing you can try is test your luck with proxy sites. Namely, a proxy is a middleman. You are not actually going to visit the website you are interested in, rather, the website is going to do that for you. Once you connect to a proxy site, once you access it properly, you are good to go. Of course the difficulty here is actually finding a good one.

Still, you should also keep in mind that a proxy site can also shield your information, it will protect your data, as well as replacing and renaming it. Keep in mind that a proxy website won't really help you with actual apps and larger services. Also note that proxy sites are shut down pretty often, so you might end up without it.

Use Tor

You should also consider using the onion router - Tor. Namely, Tor is a great way you can hide your IP address. It works by using multiple layers of encryption through relays. Namely, you send your data to the internet, it gets encrypted and transmitted through multiple servers. These servers are the relays we mentioned. Now, when your data is sent in this manner, its gets a layer of encryption for every relay it passes through.

Now, these relays are successively decrypted, while the final bits of data are randomly sent and decrypted until it finally reaches its appropriate destination. Since its masks so thoroughly, you really won't have a problem with the geoblocking app noticing your location. Just keep in mind that Tor does tend to slow down your connection a bit.

Conclusion

If you want to relax a bit, chill on your business trip or holiday, and just watch a couple of videos or shows on your phone, you can. Just remember to bypass geoblocking properly. Get a proper VPN, and protect your data while you're at it. Try to test your luck with Proxy sites, see where that takes you. Finally, don't forget to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labour, to actually relax and enjoy the content you finally acquired.