What Is Geo-Blocking & How Can You Bypass Geo-Restrictions?

Have you ever tried to stream a YouTube video, Netflix series or listen to music from an artisan you like only to be met with a message telling you “The service/content isn’t available in your region.”?

That is geo-blocking in action, and it’s a widespread issue all around the orb.

If you’re not shared with the topic, you’ll learn all you need to know in this article – what geo-blocking is, if it’s legal or not, and – most importantly – how to remove geo-blocking notifications for good.

What Is Geo-Blocking?

Geo-restrictions or geo-blocking limit access to online content for some users based on their geographical location.

An excellent example of geo-blocking is trying to access Pandora Radio or Netflix US from outside the US.

When you try to do that, you’ll get a message letting you know the service isn’t available in your country or redirected to your country’s version of the said website that usually contains limited content.

Why Is Geo-Blocking Used?

Geo-restrictions are usually implemented by major content providers like Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, or any other company with strict content-related copyright commands.

Content providers don’t perpetually own the rights to all the content they appear, so it’s not up to them to make it available universal, but up to the legal rights holders.

Is Geo-Blocking Legal?

What’s more, licensing laws come into play too. Basically, for a content provider to offer access to their content in every nation, they’d need to purchase licensing rights from each country.

That can amount to a considerable sum, especially considering any additional taxes the provider might have to pay.

As a result, geo-blocking is used to make sure licensing regulations aren’t breached.

How to Bypass Geo-Blocking

Since geo-restrictions are set on your IP address, the best way to bypass geo-blocking is to find a way to hide it.

While it might sound complicated, you can use four methods to mask your IP address (or geolocation) when you’re on the Internet:

Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

VPNs is the most common method to bypass geo-blocking. A VPN hides your actual IP address by replacing it with the IP address of the VPN server you connect to.

So, any website you link to when employing a VPN will only see the VPN server’s IP location.

This virtual private network has them all from fantastic apps, superb speed, ease of use, 24/7 customer support, to broad compatibility. ExpressVPN is an excellent alternative for geo-blocking that you should try.

You need to know that because a VPN uses encryption to guard your online connections, there is a chance your online activity might slow down a tad.

Usually, it’s not very prominent or might not even happen, but it’s still worth considering.

Use a Smart DNS

A Smart DNS doesn’t precisely hide your IP address, but it does conceal your ISP-assigned DNS address, including information that can reveal your geolocation to websites.

The service supersedes your original DNS with a different one that points to an “approved” geographic location.

a Smart DNS also intercepts your link requests and removes any data that can be linked to your geolocation.

Afterwards, it substitutes said data with new information associated with geolocation where the content you want to access is available.

Use a Proxy

A proxy is a set that acts as an intermediary between a small network and the web.

They are often used to neglect geo-blocking because they can easily mask a user’s IP number.

Plus, they have a caching ability that lets you access cached websites faster.

Also, if using a proxy with HTTP attachments, you should be aware that the proxy owner will always see your actual IP address.

Final Thought

Overall, you’re better off practicing either a VPN or a Smart DNS to circumvent geo-blocking.

Using the best VPN in today’s market is one of the most effective solutions you should try this 2021.