netflix streaming

I found a previous thread about this topic. You need to change your Ip address so it thinks your in the states.
HotSpot seems to do the trick.

Noah

cool beans, thank you

Several additional things to consider if you want to stream Netflix anywhere outside the 48 states.

Some maybe all of these services that "change " your IP reduce your download speed by 20-40%. You therefore may need to increase the speed of your Internet connection to offset the additional hops and speed loss.

You need a stable connection in terms of speed to reduce the number of times that your movie stops and you have to wait while as it re buffers. If you are using BBVI consider having them remove the burst feature from your account so your download speed is more consistent. Even then neither BBVI or Choice are very stable so it must somehow be an issue related to delivering the Internet over the air plus the VI being a long way from Netflix's movie servers.

In the end you may find it is cheaper and certainly less frustrating to to subscribe to a bigger number of movies by mail from Netflix than pay for a service to hide/change your IP and additional bandwidth. Finally if you connect your computer to your TV to watch the movie you will see how low definition the picture is in comparison to a DVD.

It is possible to do and I do it on occasion, but my wife isn't willing to watch a movie over the Internet because of all the issues I mentioned.

Jim

Hotspot does not seem to work anymore. Generally speaking, free VPNs are not worth the price.

There are VPNs and then there are VPNs. Some VPN connections are actually slightly speedier than direct connections.

With residential BBVI and a high-quality VPN service you should have no trouble streaming content.

Is netflix the same price as it is in the states? I currently pay $15/ month.

Is netflix the same price as it is in the states? I currently pay $15/ month.

Yes, the mail subscription prices are the same in the USVI as in the states. DVDs are mailed to/from New Brunswick, NJ, even though it's not really the closest Netflix facility. It usually takes around 3 days each way.

You can get it with Sprint Mobile Broadband, but the connection is usually too slow to watch. I'm waiting for the Android Netfix app. I hear they're working on it. EVO is faster than mobile broadband, IMO.

the iPhone Netlfix app seems to work - i have a friend who was streaming movies the other day.

The EVO needs to be in a 4G area to get faster speeds and we are not one of those areas.

Be careful streaming too much video over a Sprint or AT&T card, their unlimited plans are really only 5GB per month and you can eat that up quickly.

I've been involved in computer programming and networking for many years and I can't see any way that running through a VPN proxy could be quicker than a direct connection. You have the CPU latency for encrypt/decrypt involved and of course the extra hop. Unless somehow your routers were really screwed up there is no way that a VPN connection could be faster than direct.

This issue with Netflix is infuriating.

Sean

Well, when shopping for VPNs I found this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3nDIuunSh8

...although I do not use that service.

I've been around and around with people about the VPN setup. I am no IT pro and yet I can stream any content reliably and easily whenever I want with the most basic of services and equipment.

What infuriates me is that Netflix now provides streaming content to its Canadian customers but has not acknowledged us in the US territories. 🙁

With Netflix the speed is a secondary issue. It is the QOS and consistency of the connection. If you have a solid 500Kbps connection it will work fine as Netflix will buffer the download accordingly. If the speed then drops to 256 Kbps you will run through the buffer and the movie will pause and build another buffer. etc. To tell how suitable your connection's speed is for a particular application you need to use an application speed test not a capacity speed test. Vonage has one you can use to test your connection as does choice-wireliess.com.

Jim

RKS,

First thanks for the link to the video. I wouldn't put a ton of faith in that video in terms of it being "faster" having anything to do with going through their VPN. There are other variables in play here, namely the load on the rapidshare servers at the time of download which changes constantly. In fairness they don't claim that it would ever "speed things up" just that it won't slow things down signficantly (which is for the most part true if their service has sufficient bandwidth and servers geographically close to you to prevent extraneous hops).

Not trying to pick an argument or anything...and we are on the exact same page in regards to frustrations with netflix!

Sean