After being a Netflix subscriber for a month and a bit now, I am very disappointed at how limited our selection is here in Canada, half the good movies are unavailable.
I have heard of other people using proxies and VPNs to fool the servers into thinking you have a States-Side IP address, but these in my experience can be limited. The ones I have found are either really slow, have low bandwidth, or cost quite a bit to have speed and bandwidth.
During my most recent search I happened across a site called Hola (Spanish for Hello?) which adds a plugin to Chrome or Firefox or you can directly install their app on Windows, Mac OS, and Android (sorry Blackberry Users, your left out, again). I have the plugin for my Chrome and installed it on my Android phone, and it seems to work great, except early in the morning. This could relate to how it works…
The Internet is slowed down by server response times, Internet congestion, round trip times, and poorly written communication stacks in operating systems. Hola removes these bottlenecks by securely caching content on peers as they view it, and later serving it up to other nearby peers as they need it.
So basically at 4:00am, when barely anyone is online, its a bit laggy, however during peak hours I was able to watch a number of shows (Like Mythbusters) which are no longer available in Canada any more with absolutely no issue and they pre-buffered really quickly.
A few weeks ago I posted an article on how to get Netflix to work on Linux (Ubuntu based flavours), this can work for it as well, but its a bit tricky. Since the Netflix Desktop uses Firefox, Hola can be installed, however the Firefox doesn’t seem to have an address bar. The easiest way to type in an address to go to would be to select the Netflix Desktop window and hit “ctrl + L” this will give you a GoTo prompt where you can type in http://goo.gl/ioums and install the plugin. I managed to get it working on my laptop quite easily.
Hola not only unlocks Netflix but also gives you access to Hulu, iTV, CBS, Fox, and Pandora Radio. The desktop app (may differ as I only installed the Android version) also has an Internet Accelerator and Unlocks more applications like Facebook, Oxygen.com, Spotify, Twitter, and Vimeo, so that you can watch see these sites even from behind a firewall (supposedly).
So if you are looking for a fast, free method of watching USA based networks and Netflix, Hola is a definit must.
Please note, this prolly wont work on Consols like the Wii, PS3, or Xbox… Sorry Chris (My Brother) Your gonna have watch the good stuff from your PC lol.
UPDATE:
It would seem that Hola now has limitations put in place, making so that free users can only use the service for 4 hours per day, as per their new Premium Info page, it also seems they upped the price, I joined about a week ago or so when it was only $2.99/month, it now states $5/month or $45/year ($15 savings).
THANKS MAN! You’re the best!
NP Dani, glad I could help.
Thanks for this brilliant solution! Still not working for me, but I’m confident
They have update it recently with more proxy rules, however every so often I find it now asks for login credentials, I just simply close the browser, reopen and it works again. Try again and see if their update has fixed the issue for you.
do i have to subscibe to usa netflix or does it work on my .ca account ?
Hey Mike,
No you don’t, your .ca account works for both, Netflix doesn’t have a separate account for each country. Load up Hola and enjoy viewing from both sides.
I prefer using a PureVPN based solution instead as this has allowed me to unblock not only Netflix, Hulu but also other sites from around the world.
Again there is the issue of cost. As stated in my post VPNs cost $$$, where as Hola if FREE, Yes VPNs allow you to access any and every site, but at a price. Hola now actually allows you to select the country you wish to be seen as for almost every site on the net, regardless of it having the unblocker or not. So if you have the $$$, VPNs are a good solution, but for those of us who wish to spend our $$$ on something more productive, like food, electricity, gas, internet connection, life in general, Hola is still the best option.
whenever i switch my netflix over to american the netflix site says “internal server error” how do i get it to work?
I have had this happen a few times as well, you could go up under the Hola icon in the browser and select another american server, this seems to work for me at least.
Firefox installs Hola and then… nothing. There’s no extension button and the only clickable items are reinstalling the add-on or going to their FAQ, which is useless.
There should be a small flame icon in the top bar, click it to get to where you need to go.
Hola is a cool solution, but it’s very restricted as it will not work with your Smart TV, Apple TV, Gaming Console and so forth. I think most people prefer to watch content on a TV and not a computer. DNS solutions like https://unlocator.com are much better in my opinion. Never forget that if the price is free, then you are the product đ
They do work on it on a constant basis, so these devices may come available in future. Since I have started with it I have seen dozens of sites become accessible. Keep watch. Also, I have my PC hooked up to my TV, and watch everything there. Not being a big Console Gamer, (and not everyone is) Hola is simply a cost effective alternative for us Computer Users.
I have Netflix running on Ubuntu with Firefox via Wine with Silverlight. I have Hola installed but I only the see the Canadian version of Netflix. Are you sure this actually works? There are no settings for Hola in my add-ons. It’s just on or off.
If you have installed the Hola plugin for Firefox, then it should allow you to click the little fire icon and select which country you are visiting from. Sadly my linux box is on load, once I get it back I will provide screen shots. ALso how did you install the netflix on Ubuntu? manually or through the desktop netflix install (sudo apt-get install netflix-desktop)
Update: I updated the version of Hola to 1.2.1 and now Hola displays the US flag icon in the browser but after logging out of NF and back in again, I still only see Canadian content. I installed via the netflix-desktop package.
Strange, how do you know you are only seeing Canadian content? The reason I ask is that the interface looks pretty much identical. The only way I have been able to tell was when I did a search for a certain show, I found it wasn’t available till I switched back to Canada. Once you switch the flag, there is no need to log out of the site, simply refresh and it reloads from the US proxy and should work fine.
I can see in the bottom corner of the browser that content in downloading from cdn.netflixsomething.com. Perhaps it’s just grabbing my profile info from there? But also, I read that MythBusters is only available in the US. Netflix tells me it is unavailable. Do you know of another show that isn’t available in Canada that I could test with? I’ll try to look that up.
I found this site: http://netflixcanadavsusa.netflixable.com/ and tested several titles. I only see content they list as available in Canada.
I’ve solved this. I noticed a link on the Hola interface “Not working?” – duh. I clicked it and had to choose the “US VPN” option instead of the default which is “US” with a Netflix logo. Not sure why but it now works. Sorry to have dragged you into this but I’m happy to have this solved and hope it helps others.
Also, interesting to see from that link above that there is also a bunch of content available in CA but not US. Cheers.
Now, if I could only get it to be less choppy when I run it over an HDMI cable to my TV.
I hadn’t relized you replied (once you are approved once replies no longer notify me) – I run HDMI to my TV as well, it may be a video driver issue. Make sure your drivers are up to date.
Matt
Is it safe to enter your bank details using a VPN ?
It is as long as your browser shows no disruption in the security certificate. If the VPN causes a break in the encryption, your browser will notify you one way or another, either by a pop up stating the connection is not secure, or by another notification method (address bar might be red, or a lock Icon showing unlocked). if there is ever a doubt, turn off Hola to access your bank.
I personally tried this VPN software https://www.iwasel.com/en/ to watch Netflix when i was outside of USA and to open any blocked website everywhere. There are many servers. all servers are encrypted, this one worked great for me.
Still cheaper to use Hola…
Great article Matthew. The DNS option is better than using a VPN regarding content streaming because you can achieve direct connection with the media station ex. Netflix and avoid the âmiddle-manâ. Personally, I am using UnoTelly which is similar to Hola. Perhaps you should check UnoTelly as well if you havenât done so.
what about pure is this not support netflix in usa i have read some good comments about purevpn at vpnranks.com and its very cheaper then hola.