While I have generally found Tunnelbear to be excellent, I’ve not been able to make successful PPTP connections on the iPad to Netflix US. Consequently I’ve switched to Hide My Ass! which is slightly more expensive, but gives me granular control over my tunnel’s endpoint. Indeed, it’s not just the US I can connect to, but to Canada and many other locations!
Hide My Ass! works spectacularly well with Netflix US, and it’s also opened up Netflix Canada which in some cases has even better content availability than the US. So I can now access Netlix UK, US and Canada, I have an unbelievably good selection of films and television programs that will last me years to
But don’t think simply bypassing regionalisation makes me a greedy so-and-so. As somebody who happily spends money on regularly visiting the cinema, buying Blu-Rays, renting through iTunes, etc. much of the availability now allows me to sample the non-HD content of TV shows and films. I’m now VERY tempted to buy the Blu-Ray boxset of Farscape thanks to me watching it on Netflix US. The same has to be said of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I can only imagine how good things look having been remastered. I could happily re-watch Farscape series 1 over and over again and not be bored – I love that show. What I really like about Netflix is that it offers no extras, no commentaries, nothing. If you want those – you buy the DVD or Blu-Ray (if available). It’s a great way of being entertained and acting a try-before-you buy in the same way that Spotify is a similar model for music (whether or not you’re on the free, £4.99 or £9.99 package) – there has been albums and tracks that I’ve bought regardless because I want to support the artist/label as well as having a permanent copy of the music. Even with the purchase music/movies/TV shows, I can still use Netflix on devices and my computer as and when the whim takes me (rather than having to switch on the fixed TV and insert a Blu-Ray).
Interestingly looking at the Netflix blog about the Canadian launch, many people lambasted Netflix for having an initial poor catalogue. Yet from my PoV, the catalogue the Canadians have now is really rather good – nothing to complain about at all. If the UK service goes the same way as Canada, we Brits will be able to access – without VPNs or physically travelling to these places – a similarly excellent range of content within a few months.
In the mean time: using a VPN is a good halfway house. It’s not ideal and the rights holders might not like it too much, but if it helps Netflix UK to actually determine who is accessing which content from abroad – perhaps this might help prioritise what they’ll negotiate next to add to the UK catalogue. At the very least the stats generated from this would make for interesting reading.
