Watching US TV in Ecuador (or anywhere else for that matter)

In most places you turn on TV and go to a channel that you want to see or cruise through a DVR to find that show you want to watch that you had recorded. You can do that here in Ecuador also. Buy the Satellite connection and DRV stuff just like you would in other countries. But…I don’t know about you abut I am still recovering from the problems / issues / equipment problems / price increases / having to pay for support with equipment you are renting from them. I could go on but I bet you can relate to all of those issues and more. So what else can you do you might be thinking. Well I am glad you asked…

The Internet has opened up so many alternatives it is kind of fun checking them out. Ok, I admit I am a Geek, and one of the original Geeks I might add, so I do get into dealing with this stuff. You can connect your laptop /pc to your big screen TV if you want. But that is not the topic of this post, I will save that for another one. What I want to talk about is watching TV over the Internet, briefly to give you an idea, all be it a little sketch of what you can do to maybe get you started.

VPN (Virtual Private Network)

When you are outside of the US and try to Google something, or connect to your bank, or various other things, you will find that they either won’t let you do what you want because you are outside of the US or they think you are some sort of a hacker and initiate changing your password or a bunch of security questions that you have to answer. In other words, it is a pain for the most part trying to do something in the US from outside the country. The solution is to either use a free VPN or buy a VPN.

What is this VPN thing you might wonder? Well without getting technical about it, it gives you an IP address that is in the US. Or with some you can pick a major country you want to connect to. In other words all the sites recognize you as being in the US.

I mentioned free VPN’s there are a number of them but usually they let you use them until you have used a specific amount of data through them. It might be 100 megs or it might be 500 megs but there will be limits. Then you wait until next month to do anything more. That is ok if you are just dealing with the bank or surfing a bit. Fortunately, if you want to do more you can purchase a subscription to a VPN.

When you purchase a subscription to a VPN service you usually get unlimited bandwidth. In other words, you can make the Internet think you are in the US all the time if you want. But why would I want to do that you might be thinking. Let me give you a few ideas.

The VPN service we have been using is HappyVPN.com and I think there is a link nearby if you want to check them out or subscribe to them. I need to mention there are other reasons to use a VPN service, like they are more secure than a regular Internet connection for one reason. In other words, if you are concerned about privacy and security you do get more of that using a VPN.

Internet Streaming

This world of the Internet has so many things to do. Do you like Music? If you are in the US you can try Pandora.com and set up an account and listen to music. It is a pretty cool site that you can set up your own music stations. You put in an Artists name and it will play music from that artist and others like them 24 hours a day if you want.

Back to TV, did you know you can watch for free US TV shows? For the most part right after a show is aired they make it available on the Internet. Go to ABC.com, NBC.com or CBS.com and you will see what I mean. There are many other places you can go to watch TV or movies too just do a bit of searching and you will see what I mean. There are also paid places to go.

Paid Places

You can get Hulu Plus, Netflix, or various others like them that you can subscribe to watch TV shows and Movies. There is a free version of Hulu available too that is pretty good. Go to Hulu.com and check it out.

Strong Internet

To stream most anything over the Internet you need a decent connection. Sometimes if you are doing many things on many devices you might have to say. Ok turn off the IPad, IPod, Kindle, the other laptops to have enough bandwidth to watch something but it will be worth it.

Summary

There is a way to eliminate some of the frustration in dealing with US based sites, and others, while you are traveling or overseas. And that is to use a VPN service. Along with eliminating those frustrations you also get the benefits of being recognized as being in the US for watching TV, or movies, or listening to Music. Check it out you might be glad you did.

Terri likes http://www.ustvnow.com/indexphp?refu=terrilds_at_msn.com check them out too!!! (you don’t need a static ip for this one)