Most of the times, as a customer, you are given a plethora of choices when it comes to choosing a VPN service. But this scenario is assuming that you are already convinced that you need to have a VPN solution, which means that you have already done some homework and decided it’d be a great solution to one of your problems.

On this article, let’s assume that you don’t even know that a VPN service creative can be a solution to one of your problems, so let’s see things the other way round – let’s start by problems you may have as a user, and see how a VPN service can come handy.

1- You are living abroad and want to access some online resources that are only available to residents of your home country

We are living in a very mobile world now, and you may be away from your own country (be it for travel purposes, or long-term work). It happens that you are homesick. It even happens that there’s that TV show that only your local TV is broadcasting. Let’s say for example that you are a British person traveling to Canada for a few weeks.

There comes a time where you want to watch your favorite BBC program and where you wish you were in the comfort of your home and ready to watch it…You know that BBC iPlayer TV is giving you a way to watch the last 7 days shows online … but you’ve got to be in the UK to benefit from it…

Now you wish you were in England, that’s your problem. And guess what? You can pretend to be in England by using a VPN service creative. Now all you have to do is choose a VPN service that offers UK-based IP addresses, grab some coffee and whatever you like having while watching TV, launch the VPN client, then launch BBC iPlayer.

2- Participate in online sweepstakes

Now let’s say that you are a regular online-deal-hunter. You are surely aware that there’s a lot of sweepstakes and online deals out there that are only limited to one region (usually in developed countries and in big cities).

Let’s say that you are based in Denmark and that the sweepstake is limited to US people.  You know that you can’t “bid” on sweepstakes where the prizes need to be physically sent to your home address – however electronic gifts (amazon gift cards, coupons, …) are perfect for you since all you get is an electronic code that can be redeemed online…

If only you could pretend that you are a US-based person. Bling bling… VPN is your solution. Have your online e-mail address ready, choose a VPN solution, launch it, then enter the sweepstake – if you won, the instructions for redeeming the prize will be sent to your e-mail address…

Those are only a few ideas for using a VPN service creative, now, tell us how you use a VPN service in the comment section.

However, the downside is, you cannot watch the BBC outside the UK due to the geo-location constraints. But you can bypass these limitations by the use of a UK proxy.

With such a proxy you can watch BBC iPlayer even if you are traveling abroad! It is specially made to protect your online data and privacy. Furthermore, you can now surf anonymously on the web without fear of being controlled and or restrained from watching whatever you want, wherever, and whenever you want to!

If you live outside of the UK and you like BBC shows, you are probably very familiar with the following message:

The idea is that the BBC has no rights to show certain programs outside the UK, so it has to block users that do not have UK IP address. The same thing happens in the US with Hulu.com, Fox.com, Abc.com, etc.

Workaround: how to watch BBC iPlayer outside the UK

The good news is that there are workarounds. Today, I found out that one of the hide IP tools that I use regularly exposes a UK proxy that works very well with BBC iPlayer.

Get UK IP with proxies

You can find such proxies on sites like Proxy4Free, SamAir.ru or Xroxy. These are open proxies that you can get free of charge. If you don’t know how to set up your browser how to use such proxy make sure you read: How To Hide Your IP While Browsing Using Firefox or How To Change Your IP Using Internet Explorer Manually.

The bad news is that most of these proxies won’t help because they are used by a lot of people and they are quite slow.

Watch BBC Live using VPN services

A better solution would be to get your own private proxy or get a VPN connection to a server located in the UK. HideMyAss, HideIpVPN, ibVPN offer such services. They are not free, but it is for you to decide if it worth it or not.

Both Hulu and BBC iPlayer with the same VPN?

What if you are leaving in Australia and you want to watch both Hulu and BBC iPlayer? Get a VPN service that exposes both US and UK servers in the same package. Most of the VPN services listed above offer both US and UK servers.

How to watch BBC iPlayer on your Nintendo Wii while overseas

I assume your Wii is already connected to the Internet. Once you are, just proceed to download BBC iPlayer by going to the shopping channel and download the iPlayer channel. You can obtain easily as a free download. Do not forget to set your localization settings of your Wii to the UK initially, as the BBC iPlayer channel is not offered to non-UK citizens.

Once this has been accomplished, you need to proceed to the Wii’s proxy server settings by selecting your connection from the Wii System Settings. Then select the Internet connection link. Choose the connection you are utilizing and scroll down the options until you discover the Proxy Server displayed. Below are the necessary changes you have to undertake:

1. Specify the Proxy Server to use.
2. Under ‘Advanced Settings’ input one of proxy’s UK IP addresses you prefer to use.
3. Use ‘4040’ for the Port number.
4. Modify Username and Password to ‘Yes.’
5. Go to ‘Advanced Settings,’ and input your proxy username and password credentials in the fields provided.

Consequently, all you have to do is save the settings and proceed to the Wii display screen, choose the BBC iPlayer channel and everything should be working fine by now. Should you be using a free proxy you can skip the login credentials area. However, you may need to change your port to 80 or 8080.

Enjoy!