Using the Hola plugin to access BBC iPlayer outside the UK

[Chris1725]

I am wondering if this the best What Hifi forum suited to my query.

Anyway, I'm a UK citizen and divide my time between the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Recently, when trying to watch prorammes on BBC iPlayer in Ireland in the latest version of the Firefox browser, using the free Hola VPN plugin set to browse from the UK, both for catch up content and with the watch live option, It seems that no matter what I do, I've been unable to get past a "BBC iPlayer only works in the UK due to rights issues" message which constantly appears. I had previously been able to stream IPlayer content for months without much of a problem, until now in early August. The problem is experienced on both Mac and Windows operating systems, and the Hola Fix it option does not correct the issue. This doesn't appear to be a problem with other UK restricted services such as ITV player for example, as it remains possible to watch live streaming of all the ITV channels outside the UK using Hola.

Has anyone else noticed such an issue recently, if its just affecting Ireland, and if its possible to rectify it?. I tried reinstalling the Hola plugin, switching it to another country then back again to the UK, signing back into the BBC account, and downgrading to an erlier version of the Firefox bowser, but iPlayer remains unavalible. Does the mean that BBC iPlayer is now blocked from being used outside the UK via a VPN, or could it perhaps be a temporary problem with the server hosting the Hola service?

 

[daveh75]

The BBC started blocking VPNs getting on for a couple of years ago now, if Hola has only just stopped working then the BBC must have recently discovered Hola's blocks of IPs.

I would try some of the commercial/paid VPNs (most will have a free trial) or better still as you say you split your time between ROI and UK, if you've a UK address with broadband installed and with decent upload speeds, you could run your own VPN server off of it.

 

[Chris1725]

Thank you for your reply.

It had been possible to use iPlayer in Ireland with the Hola plugin the previous evening. While the message about BBC iPlayer only working in the UK was coming up, after around an hour of clicking the Hola Fix it button, the service worked for both catch up programmes and live streaming. The following day though, no matter what I tried, this message remained. I had wondered if the issue might be related to a recent internet browser update, but reinstalling the previous version of Firefox on the 27 inch mid 2011 iMac used as a television, did not seem to resolve the problem, and I ended up using ITV player, which worked without a hitch. Downloading the free Hola Firefox plugin on to a Windows Sony Viao laptop the same day, also proved useless.

Would it be worth trying out Hola on my MacBook Pro laptop, looking into setting up a VPN on my iPad, or perhaps is there a version of the Hola plugin for Apple's Safari browser? If all else fails, as using iPlayer's watch live option is the only way I'm able at present, when in the Republic of Ireland, to watch current BBC TV broadcasts, it may mean that, if the Hola plugin has indeed as you suggest been blocked, and If it's not possible to continue to use to a free VPN, reverting back to the previous method of watching BBC TV, using TeamViewer to remotely access a computer connected to the Internet in the UK, although I do recall this resulted in slow screen refresh and considerable motion judder when accessing BBC iPlayer.