How to access Pandora BBC iPlayer outside US and UK
Written on 11/24/2010 02:16:00 PM by poison_ivy
I have been to mobile phone forums and I was always curious about Pandora Radio that our US brothers are raving about. Sure, there are alternatives like LastFM which I do use a lot but out of curiosity, I decided to research some ways so I can get access to Pandora radio and other websites that only cater to US traffic.
Well, it turns out you can use a VPN service so that your IP address can be hidden and the websites you're visiting will think you have a US IP address. However, there aren't a lot of VPN services that are free, for those that are free, either they're not located in the US or it slows down you internet connection. So far, the best one I've tried is ibVPN. They give you two hours free access so I readily gave it a try, also, I was trying to find ways to get hold of Amazon's free $3 MP3 voucher and you could only download Amazon's MP3s from the US. By the way, I found out about this website from NMCNNIC.com.
Anyways, set-up can be found at their website and I followed the process and had VPN running on my iPhone 4. I was able to download Pandora radio using a friend's US iTunes account and had music streaming from my iPhone. When I wasn't using VPN, all the Pandora Radio App did was open and then force closed. Also, I set up the VPN on my Macbook and was able to use Amazon's $3 gift voucher. Got 3 free MP3 songs which is great!
Anyways, I don't know if I would be signing up for their Premium service though. $4.95 a month is too much, besides, it's not like LastFM isn't doing a lot for me. It may be a good option for those who wishes to use US streaming websites like Hulu or Netflix (if you have an account). Also, they have UK servers so UK citizens who're abroad and wishes to gain access to BBC's iPlayer can also gain a lot from the service.