What Netflix region switcher do you recommend?

March 30, 2016 10:03 AM

I currently have (and have until recently really loved) AdFreeTime to allow me to switch Netflix regions. It doesn't seem to work anymore and I'm interested in hearing about alternatives. My requirements inside.

According to something on AdFreeTime's web page (but not in any obvious place and not in their Twitter Feed):

Netflix rolled out a new method of blocking/detecting proxies that is proving harder to get around.
It looks like only about 30% of users are currently affected by this.
We are working around the clock to resolve this issue.

Given the length of time that this has been up, I doubt the "around the clock" nature of their work to resolve the issue.

Here's what I like about AdFreeTime and would like in an alternative (in descending order of importance):

1. I can set it up via DNS servers on my router and it "just works" for all devices (including embedded Tivo Netflix, SmartTV Netflix players, browsers, etc.).
2. It's pretty cheap ($2/month); I'd be willing to pay a bit more, but probably not much more than $4 or $5 a month.
3. There are a lot of regions available to switch between.

As I said, I don't mind paying (in fact, I sort of like paying a bit for a system that works), but I'm getting pretty tired of it not working and I don't use the other features of AdFreeTime (i.e. ad blocking).

posted by Betelgeuse to Technology (4 answers total)

I don't think a solution exists that will fix your problem with 100% guaranteed success for any length of time. Netflix has stepped up enforcement significantly in the last month, and it seems like they're employing multiple methods of detection, including detecting accounts that switch their region frequently and outright banning IP addresses from well-known DNS and VPN services. So whatever service you try next may work for a week or a month, or it might give you trouble tomorrow. Many think the cheaper DNS services will be forced to shut down, since they can't throw resources or more IP addresses at the problem. Your best bet might be a VPN with a static IP address, so it's not as easily banned, but that will cost more than your budget.

In any case, there's an entire subreddit dedicated to the discussion of the topic.
posted by bluecore at 10:21 AM on March 30, 2016

Yeah, the VPN clamp down seems to be more or less total. I saw an article from a couple of days ago plugging IronSocket as a Smart DNS that still works, and elsewhere I've seen Unlocator getting mentioned. Both seem to be above your price range, though. I have no experience with either, and tbh I agree with bluecore that whatever you try, any success may very well be short lived. This is the new normal now.
posted by sively at 11:39 AM on March 30, 2016

Everything i've heard of that seemed remotely legit cost at least $8-11, and was a Big Deal Strong VPN service like Mulvad that also catered to people wanting to use in-some-regions-not-legal file sharing services or seriously stealth out their online activity.

I think the cheap ones are done for. It's already trivial for say, an ISP or corporate network to sniff out that kind of stuff(as inbound or outbound traffic, client or server) and squish it on say college networks etc.

I myself am currently researching what even still works or could/would work and wont break in a month. None of it is the cheap stuff so far.
posted by emptythought at 3:25 PM on March 30, 2016

i was affected by it, and then started using smartflix, which has managed to solve/workaround the user bans. another advantage of smartflix is that they give you access to the *entire* netflix global db.
www.smartflix.io.

another service that is currently working is mediahint.com, it works for netflix, hulu, and quite a few other channels as well.
posted by alchemist at 11:59 PM on March 30, 2016