Not every Internet video resource is available to everyone. Some services restrict access by nation for various reasons. While these restrictions tend not to affect the service’s target audience, when a normally legitimate audience member travels to another country, the loss of service can be frustrating.

Drat! BBC won't let us watch this show because we're not in Great Britain!

Fortunately, there are two ways travelers can make the service provider think they’ve never left the home country. Proxy servers route web traffic through a computer in the desired country, making the service provider  think the web requests are coming from that computer. Virtual Private Network (VPN) service does the same thing, but with all Internet traffic. Proxy servers tend to be free, but are overall less reliable than using VPN.

(Some services may consider the use of these techniques to be a violation of terms of service. Some jurisdictions may consider TOS violations a crime. Use caution.)

Proxy servers

Free proxy servers have a tendency of vanishing and sprouting up quickly. Connection information for proxy servers can be found in trackers on the web: just search for proxy server and the desired country, and look for a list of proxies. Look for a proxy server’s IP address (four numbers separated by dots), and port number (a number after a colon).

To tell Mac OS X 10.5 to use a proxy server, launch the Network preference pane in System Preferences. Click the Advanced… button, then click Proxies. In the pull-down menu that appears after Configure Proxies: select Manually. Click Web Proxy (HTTP), then enter the address and port number in the space provided. If the proxy server you chose supports SSL, click Secure Web Proxy (HTTPS), and enter the same information. Click OK to start routing all of your web requests through the proxy.

By entering the information we found at this web site, we can route our web traffic through a computer in Great Britain, but this is a security risk. (Click to embiggen)

Test the connection by visiting a web site. Web access may feel slower because all of the web traffic is now being routed through another computer. If you can’t get anywhere on the web, or if the site you’re trying to use still doesn’t work correctly, find a different proxy server and try again. You may spend hours looking for a proxy that works, or you may get lucky.

Using a proxy server is a security risk: by routing web traffic through another server, there is a risk of that server’s administrator eavesdropping, or using automated techniques to sniff passwords or other sensitive data. Never enter credit card information or site passwords over an anonymous proxy.

Proxy servers can also be unreliable, because services sometimes prevent access from known proxies. Additionally, using a web proxy only routes information sent using the hypertext transfer protocol (http) through the proxy. Other traffic, like video sent using the real time streaming protocol (rtsp), goes straight from the server to the client, instead of through the proxy. Some services may also check rtsp traffic to determine whether the computer is in the proper country before deciding whether to send a stream. Using an rtsp proxy server would circumvent these sorts of checks, but finding one of these for free is a challenge.

CGI-based proxies allow surfing through another computer, but without having to configure a browser or operating system to use a proxy server. They’re another option that may work, but the same security rules about not entering passwords or credit card numbers apply.

If you're lucky enough to have two Macs, you can use our Web Surfing Under the Radar With Proxies how-to to set up your very own proxy service back in your own country. It's safer and less of a hasle.  

Use a VPN

The alternative to routing only some traffic through another server is routing all of it. VPNs have the added bonus of using encryption, making it unlikely for a snooper to glean data from the connection between the computer and the VPN server. The disadvantage of using a VPN is that it tends to cost money, unless you already run a VPN server on your home network or have an especially good friend. The two VPN protocols supported by Mac OS X are  PPTP or L2TP over IPSec, so look for these when shopping or begging.

Set up a VPN using the Network preference pane. Click the + button to add a network service. Choose appropriate VPN type from the pull-down menu, enter a name for the service, and click the Create button. Enter the connection information for the VPN server, and click the Connect button.

Get the information for connecting to the VPN from its administrator, and enter it here. (Click to embiggen)

Some services that ban by IP address or range of addresses may decide to deny service to your VPN server, just as they may decide to ban your home computer. This sort of banning is much less likely to occur on a VPN than it is on a proxy server, because of the negative reputation associated with open proxies.