Quote:
Originally Posted by stomachmonkey
It's a known IP range and it's geographic location is known so it can be blocked.
When you use a VPN tunnel you can pick the entrance ramp you appear to be getting on from.
So if you wanted to access content that was geofenced for let's say Germany only you pick a server located in Germany and it spits you out there so it appears that's where you are located.
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Except that most of the bigger streaming services (Netflix, Hulu fersure) have lists of all the well-known VPN provider egress points, and are blacklisting them. As soon as new ranges show up, they're playing whack-a-mole with them.
Don't blame the streaming providers (they don't care/don't want to do it), it's the content providers that are licensing them content that're insisting on it. Same folks that brought you region-locked DVDs and Blu-Rays...
There's also security considerations; if you're not paying for VPN access, you're the product. The provider is almost certainly logging what you're doing/mining the data/selling it. If they're not injecting ads.
That said, here's some free services to test out; better than nothing if you're just going away for a week on holiday...
https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/top-really-free-vpn-services/
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-completely-free-vpn-services-protect-privacy/
If you're doing it for privacy reasons/obfuscate your online activities (other than to merely hide them from your ISP - you are using Cloudflare DNS, right? - which some consider sufficient motivation right there, you should probably research whether or not the provider is logging or will provide info to LEO (a provider that doesn't log at all cannot comply with a court order for more than about - oh, say- 20 minutes after the fact because simply don't have the information. And some based elsewhere aren't subject to (say) US court orders. But many providers have been caught out lying about whether they log or where LEO have jurisdiction).
Some MVNOs (like Google Fi) automatically use "known" public wifi APs - and encrypt the local end of the connection via VPN.
Some APs/routers provide the ability to terminate a VPN tunnel - so can use your home router as your VPN gateway if you're travelling for a few days and don't trust the local coffee shop/resort wifi.