WebUser – 04 April 2018

44 4-17April 2018

WatchiPlayer whenyou’re
outsidetheUK
It usedto berelatively easy forBritish
expats andholidaymakerstostream
iPlayerprogrammesabroadbyusing
aVPN,but theBeebnowblocks many
toolswiththemessage: “BBCiPlayerTV
programmesare availableto play in
theUKonly”.Thisispartlytostop
non-licence-feepayers enjoyingBBC
contentfor freeandpartly because the
BBCco-owns thepaid-forstreaming
serviceBritbox(www.britbox.com),
whichentertains ourAmericanand
CanadiancousinswithEastEnders,
HolbyCityandthelike.
However, thereare still afewVPNs
that allowyouto access theiPlayer from
outsidetheUK,withtheprovisothat
you’ll needto payfor amonthly
subscription. If youonlywanttostream
foraday or two, consider NordVPN,
whichoffersathree-day freetrial(free
.nordvpn.com), doesn’trequireyouto

enteryourcarddetails andis available

onWindows,MacOS, AndroidandiOS.

It has30servers in theUK, to increase

your chances of unlockingiPlayer from

overseas,andcostsfrom$3.29(£2.36)

permonth onceyourtrial hasfinished.

Alternatively, there’sExpressVPN

(www.expressvpn.com), whichcosts

from$8.32(£5.97) permonth,but

offers a30-daymoney-back guarantee,

“noquestions asked”.Bearinmind

that streamingiPlayer in this manner

breaches theservice’s termsand

conditions andcouldleadtoyour

accountbeingsuspended.

UseBBCiPlayer without

signingin

Asof Junelast year,theBBChas

requiredalliPlayer viewers(and

listeners) to create andsignintoan

accountwiththestreamingservice.This

doesn’ttakelongandkeepsyousigned

in indefinitely onthecurrent device,but

youmay still feel uneasy abouthanding

overyourpersonalinfo to theBeeb.

Oneway aroundthis is to register

usingafalse name,emailaddress,

postcodeanddateofbirth provided

byFake NameGenerator (www

.fakenamegenerator.com). This offers

itsowndisposable emailsystem,Fake

Mail Generator,soyoucanconfirm

your bogusaddress.Ifyou’vealready

registeredyour real details withthe

BBC(as most iPlayerusers will have),

consider deletingyouraccountand

startingafresh –goto‘Your account’,

Settings andclick ‘I want to deletemy

account’.Youwill of courseloseaccess

to anydownloads,favouritesandother

BBCpreferences youhavesaved, and

will needto remember your fake details

whensigningin onotherdevices.

Tr ynewfeaturesbefore everyone

else

TheBBCis constantly experimenting

withnewfeatures andtechnologyfor

iPlayer, to fixproblemsandenhance

Boostplayback speedandquality

If you’re desperatetobinge-watchthe

latest Netflixseriesbut arepressedfor

time,whynot whiz throughepisodesat

four timestheusualspeed?That’sjust

oneofthehandyhacks offeredby

ChromeextensionSuper Netflix(bit.ly/

super446), whichletsyouwatchthe

streamingservice exactlyhowyouwant.

BEAT BBCiPLAYERRESTRICTIONS

BEAT RESTRICTIONSONNETFLIX

GetthreedaysofiPlayer accessfrom
abroad usingNordVPN’s free trial

Getthroughshows on Netflixfasterby

speedingthemupusingSuper Netflix

Delete your currentBBC account and

re-registerfor iPlayerwithafakeone

Become abetatestertojumpthe queue

fornew features andfixes

ControlNetflix usingyour voice
Tiredofhavingtopickupyourphone, tablet
or remote everytimeyouwant to play,pause
or searchNetflix? Thensitbackanduse
your voiceinsteadwiththehelp of Google
Assistant, whichworks in tandemwithyour
Chromecastto respondtospokencommands
suchas “OkGoogle,playTheCrownfrom
NetflixonmyTV”.
Tosetupvoice control, opentheGoogle
Homeapponyourmobiledevice, pressthe
Menubuttonand,underGoogle Assistant, tap‘More settings’.Select‘Videos
andPhotos’,locateNetflix andtapLINKtolinkyourGoogle accounttothe
Netflixapp.Youcanalsochoose ManageProfiletoturnonVoice Match, so that
Google will always access your Netflixaccountratherthanotherusers’.
Amazon’slatestFireTVdevices comewithAlexa-poweredvoice remotes
to findandplay contentonNetflix,oryoucanuse your AmazonEchotocontrol
thestreamingboxor stick. TheNetflix appfor Windows10 (bit.ly/netflixapp446)
lets youstreamTVshowsandfilmshands-freetoyourPC, usingCortana.

Stream and searchNetflix using

your voiceinsteadofaremote