The internet is one of humanity's most significant achievements. It's with this technological marvel that the whole world becomes interconnected. We can now communicate with anyone anywhere in the world and even obtain any information we want. However, that's not the case for all things found on the World Wide Web.

There are content confined to a specific location. These are called geo-blocked content. Video streaming websites and game servers are the ones usually geo-blocked.

This is the reason why piracy is growing in popularity. Unfortunately, piracy is illegal. But there’s no need to worry because there are a lot of ways to access blocked content without resorting to unlawful means. In this article, we're going to show you the best ways to do that.

DNS Services

DNS servers are the most popular way to gain access to blocked content. It creates a tunnel between your network and the content you want to access. The tunnel acts as the middleman as it is where data traffic flows through. This makes your network seem like coming from the country where the content is originally available. It then enables you to gain access to it.

What's great about this is that it works on all devices connected to your network. You could even connect simultaneously to multiple websites found in different countries. However, its capability is only limited to accessing geo-blocked websites and nothing more.

How to use a DNS server?

Using this is not that difficult. All you have to do is just to change the settings of your DNS server found on your router. There are also some DNS services where you can access the settings through your computer or device. Once you've set it up, you will then directly have access to your blocked content.

You can also view it with the same speed of your internet connection because it's connected to your network. This means that you don't have to tunnel all of your traffic. This only uses the data on the website you want to access.

Top DNS Servers

Google Public DNS

Google Public DNS has been around since 2009. And after eight years, it became the most extensive public DNS service in the industry. To use this, just change your IP address to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Its main highlight is its enhanced security. Google Public DNS can easily block any DoS attacks or even DNS cache poisoning.

It also boasts its fast connection speed. This is made possible because Google uses Anycast routing to connect to the nearest available server. And knowing that Google is a global powerhouse, it isn’t that hard to find a server nearby.

OpenDNS

OpenDNS is the perfect choice if you want to have full control over your DNS server. Setting this up is a piece-of-cake because you can implement it on any of your devices. And the process also isn’t that complicated. This makes it more convenient for you because you can access blocked websites using any device you have.

There are also two OpenDNS variants available. These are the Personal and Business plans. This gives you the freedom to choose which one you need most. The IP address for enabling OpenDNS is 208.67.220.220 and 208.67.222.222.

SmartDNS

SmartDNS might be for you if you're solely into streaming online video content, such as Netflix, Hulu, or YouTube. It enables you to bypass geographically restricted content. This service has a lot of similarities with VPN technology because it reroutes your network's queries to a server that's found in a different country. In simpler words, it disguises your true location so that you can access the content.

VPNs

VPN services are also a great option when it comes to unlocking geo-restricted content. What this service does is that it accesses the content through an encrypted tunnel connection. Your network or device then comes out on the other side of the tunnel, giving you access to the content.

This process relies on the server that’s based on the country where the content is available. That server should also be capable of supporting the exchange of bandwidth to-and-fro your network and the server. Though they’re more reliable because the connection is more direct compared to DNS services, this reliability comes at a cost. Most VPN services are paid, where the monthly fee ranges from $5 to $15 depending on the features.

What are the things to consider when using VPNs?

The main different of VPNs from a DNS service is that all of your internet activities are sent through the tunnel. This slows down your internet connection when connecting to a VPN. This is why you need only to use it when accessing the blocked content. Disable it when you're doing other things.

Top VPN Services

ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is one of the best VPN services there is because of its excellent protocol support. Compared to other services which only use PPTP, this one both uses L2TP/IPSec and SSTP. It also has high-quality setup guides which makes installation easy. All the things that you might ask are also found in their FAQ. Their kill switch feature to disable a connection is also easy to use. And they even support Bitcoin payment and has a 30-day money back guarantee!

Hide My Ass

Hide My Ass is another VPN service option you can try. It boasts its stable network and its support for different protocol options. Though this is a legal way to access blocked contents, the service tolerates torrents and P2P transfers to happen.

This is the perfect VPN for you if you happen to be a gamer. It offers support on different platforms including game consoles and mobile devices. But the downside to this is that it logs connection data and you can only connect to five connections simultaneously. This is not so good if you want privacy and want to access multiple websites.

NordVPN

NordVPN is another way to access blocked content. The main highlight of this VPN is that it can connect to six simultaneous connects. This is a great option if you want privacy because it doesn’t log anything. This leaves you with no online trace. It has more than 60 servers across the globe where it can connect to.

Unblocking Services

Aside from DNS and VPN services, there is also another way to unblock content on the internet. And that is by using unblocking services. These apps and plugins’ main purpose is to solely unblock content — and that’s all. Compared to DNSs and VPNs that also improves your connection’s performance, these are simpler and less complicated because what they do is to simply unblock.

Media Hint

Media Hint is a browser extension that unblocks content. This works on Firefox and Chrome browsers. To use this, simply download it from your browser’s plugin store and install it right away.

You will then gain full access to Netflix, Hulu, Rdio, and Pandora wherever or whenever you want to. This extension acts as a proxy where your browser accesses the blocked information by using Media Hint’s proxy. It works great, is user-friendly, and most importantly — free.

Hola Free

You might also want to use Hola Free. This is another browser extension similar to Media Hint. It also tunnels traffic from different media sites like Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube. This is a better option if you don’t want your internet connection to be affected when accessing geo-blocked websites. This is made possible as it uses P2P technology to ensure the speeds’ consistency. So in principle, the more people using the device, the faster the extension becomes. And it’s also free to use!

Final Thoughts

The number one reason why people want to unblock content is because they want to access media streaming sites. One study states that 29% of VPN users use the service to gain access to Netflix. And that’s just for one media website! What about those who want to view blocked content on Hulu or perhaps Amazon Video or some other streaming site?

When you add those up, you’ll see how people are craving to have a piece of that series, video, or whatever it is they want to see. Luckily, with today’s latest technological improvements, you no longer have to resort to piracy to access them. Downloading pirated media not only risks your device from virus infection, but you’re also going against the law and might even lead you to get some jail-time.

With the help of DNS, VPN, and unblocking services, you’re able to access whatever it is you want without breaking the law. At the end of the day, ingenuity wins.