I have not written too much here recently although there are changes at the moment with the BBC, which may or may not have an impact on the proxy. Still we will find out in the next week or so, when they launch their international version. From others I have seen it will not appeal to expats due to the content being different and I suspect there will be no live coverage of the likes of the F1!

So on another note one of my users has now returned home to the UK from New Zealand and sent me an email, which I thought I would paste here. It isn’t something I normally do, even though I have had a few it is more down to time!

Still I thought it would be nice to add as a representative of many of my users, whom I see more as friends than user and makes it all worth while.

Hi Stephen,

I hope you’re well. I just wanted to drop you a line to say a massive thank you for the use of your proxy over the last year or so. It made living in New Zealand feel that little bit closer to home and always worked charm.

Unfortunately my time in NZ has come to an end and I’ve returned to London, so the need for the proxy is no more.

Thanks again for the great service and who knows, perhaps I’ll be in touch again one day if I end up returning overseas!

Cheers,

It has been a while since I updated this blog, mainly due to the fact I am doing this in my spare time, which I have very little of these days. Not surprising when you have a family with two daughters and a wife to keep happy. On top of this I work from home, so they seem to think I do nothing all day and therefore they give me various chores, to keep me busy lol

I digress just a little but I wanted to mention a couple of updates before I get a mass email out, which I have been intending to do since Christmas!

Firstly for those wanting to use the SKY player with the proxy I certainly recommend it, although you will need to buy a subscription package it is worth it for the quality of the stream. I have tested this some time back and have maintained the subscription, to watch the football and their news coverage, which I have to admit has been excellent at times.

The football is preforms well on their iplayer and is a good test of the stream, because with the moving players you can still tell who they are and there is no need to go to the local expat bar.

In regards to ITV I have found recently their quality has improved and games are now watchable, but more importantly there is no need to set the proxy in the operating system to watch ITV live, which makes life so much easier.

PS more importantly with the SKY player you only need the proxy to login!

Last week my daughter was complaining that the laptop was running slow. To be honest slow is an understatement, but unavoidable with vista and a couple of years of downloads!

So every so often a reformat of the hard drive and a reinstall of windows usually fixes it, but on this occasion I thought if I am going to all that trouble I may as well try out Linux with Ubuntu, as they are free. I can now say I am glad I did, because I am very impressed with its speed and ease of use.

The only negative was trying to get the BBC Iplayer to play and for the proxy to work, I have to admit it was a struggle, but I can now say I have it working.

In the end I down loaded the Opera browser as I could not get it to work with FireFox or Chrome, but even with Opera it was a little difficult. In the end the tweak that finally clinched it was the turbo charge button. Once clicked viewing was fine.

The only issue I have now is to get live broadcasts and SKY player to work, which at this stage doesn’t seem achievable, but if I can get it to work I may even bin Vista for day to day use.

BBC Iplayer abroad, well not for everyone!

It was announced earlier in December that the BBC IPlayer was going to be available to customers outside the UK, which in some ways I would be happy for, but on closer inspection it appears not quite as one would hope.

Apparently when the BBC does launch its iplayer it will not be for everyone outside the UK, just those who live in the US for specific content and only on the Ipad. Not ideal for expats outside of America and for myself living in Spain, could this be part of that special relationship we always hear about

Obviously depending upon its success this could effect users of a proxy. If I was to be cynic I suspect they like the idea that people can access the the BBC Iplayer from abroad, because it is a way to get a global reach without upsetting other countries broadcasting agreements, why do I think this, well if they wanted to stop access via a proxy they can!

There is no doubt this is a complicated issue and I suspect the real issue is not about the BBC not wanting their content accessible abroad, but more like other countries not wanting the BBC to broadcast into their countries. If you then add on the fact that the BBC is paid for by UK citizens by a licence in the UK, it isn’t surprising that the BBC need to tread carefully

This is more obvious with SKY TV, because they are not allowed to sell access to their satellites in Spain, but most expats living in Spain on the Costa Del sol have a dish. On a personal note accessing the SKY Iplayer from Spain with the proxy didn’t work for a few days, this is now fixed, why because they want my £30 per month subscription and the many others expats living abroad, whilst keeping other countries happy by saying they do not enable access to their content from abroad.

So under final analysis, I suspect it will be quite some time before there are no borders for TV and I suspect using my proxy, is in actual fact helping many expats abroad and the UK TV channels at the same time.

But if I was running the BBC iplayer “Luke Bradley-Jones” I have the answer for you that would make everyone happy. Just give access to the iplayer with a login just like SKY but in your case with the TV Licence number, keep the proxy loop hole open and then everyone will be happy… The BBC licence payers, the BBC and me!

Having just sent out my Christmas Cards (e-cards) to all my users who are watching the BBC Ipayer abroad, I was amazed at how many have replied thanking me for the service. I only say this as I feel quite humbled, which makes me realise how worth while setting up the proxy server in the first place was.

Being an expat living abroad in Spain, it does make me realise how important it is to have a link to the UK. Even if it is only to watch the news in the morning, just to see how cold it has been this December

So as we enter the Christmas week, I and many others will be able to enjoy all the Christmas TV Specials and the Queens Speech on Christmas Day, that is if I manage to finish cooking the Christmas dinner! Which reminds me I better think about preparing the Parsnips, which fortunately I brought back with me from the UK last week.

So if you are away this Christmas and want to watch the BBC IPlayer abroad then Iplayer Proxy 4u could just help give you a little British Christmas cheer where ever you are in the world

It has been a while since my last update in regards to the proxy, which you may or may not be using at the moment, but I thought I should mention a few changes that may be of interest.

Firstly I have changed my direct number from Skype to a Vonage number, a big move after 5 years, but the quality is so much better particularly if you work from home. If you are considering a change, I am happy for you to give me a call to test the quality. My new Vonage number is 0161 241 9499

Next up is a few changes in the way you access various channels, I suspect this is more down to changes in technology. One noticeable difference is that with the beta version of the BBC IPlayer, you can now download them to the BBC IPlayer desktop and watch them later. Please note you need to have the proxy set with Internet Explorer and once the download starts, take off the proxy to speed up the download. Then when you want to watch make sure the proxy is back on.

With the channels 4oD and Demand 5, the only way to watch these channels is via their YouTube channels, I assume to save on their bandwidth. I have to admit it is quite easy to navigate and the quality is very good too, well more so than some of the programmes

4oD on YouTube is http://www.youtube.com/4oD and Demand 5 on YouTube is http://www.youtube.com/user/demandfive

On top of this I thought I would test out the Sky Player, up until know I assumed I wouldn’t be able to get their programming as I need to use a credit card and a UK address. Well as of Sunday I found that by using my Spanish visa debit card and my mother’s UK address, I was given access to their player. Although generally I am not a fan of their programming or so many channels, I did enjoy the live commentary of the Pope’s visit to the UK and the History channel and the various National Geographic channels.

One big advantage to the Sky Player is once you have logged in you can switch off the proxy and change channel to your heart’s content. I also tested Sky Sports and the movies package, although I am not keen on the price I was able to watch the matches live and their various movies.

Also one of the unexpected returns on offering the proxy to expats, is I was surprised how many of you have become friends, to the point a few have sent in a number of added support links.

One includes a video on how to set up the proxy on a MAC as I do not own one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV3uTYxXex8

The next link is shows a more sophisticated setup, from what I can see means you will not need to have to keep changing the proxy. I have not used as I am always a bit nervous when it comes to changes or downloading anything, for those who are quite technical you may find it useful. http://www.tiger.hu/robi/

Also I was sent a superb plugin for Google chrome https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/caehdcpeofiiigpdhbabniblemipncjj which in essence makes it easy to switch on and off the proxy with one click. Mind you there seems to be a clitch as although it works it had no effect on my Google chrome browser, but changes my Safari and IE easily, so it does make life a little easier for me but hopefully you will have more luck.   Last week I put together a video on YouTube on how to set up the proxy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0aOgxSRUyI&feature=player_embedded although you now shouldn’t need, but I have included in case it is of interest.

In regards to a VPN connection, I have almost decided against this as I find the proxy does cover most requirements, but if there is a keen interest please let me know and I will re consider.   A lot of information there but I hope some of it is useful.
And finally as a reminder you only need the proxy on at the start of the stream, by taking it off you will then get maximum download speed   Wishing you the best    Stephen Fowler

Fortunately most people seem to work out how to set up the proxy settings in their browser, but I have found a few who have struggled.

So just in case some people do not quite get the written description I have therefore produced a YouTube video, giving a better explanation on how to set up the proxy.

In the example I was using the Google Chrome Browser, but as you start the settings it is the same as if you were setting up in Internet Explorer.

Sometimes I think I spend too much time on the Internet, I suspect that is part of life as an expat. The upside is that you get to check out stories that interest you and for one it is documentaries that I miss most.

Every so often you get to see a programme that really hits home and one for me was today. It was broadcast back in 2004, when I was still in the UK and I can honestly say if I had seen it, not only would it have moved me but I think most people would have been in arms over it, as it showed the the British ride roughshod over a population of 2,000 island inhabitants of Chagos.

Why? Well so the Americans could build a military base camp and the UK get to sell a Polaris Submarine  but the result was 2,000 British subjects end up in poverty!

Obviously many people would have seen it as it was an award winning documentary by the prised Australian reporter John Pilger, but I wonder when exactly was it broadcast to save embarrassment to the Queen and Country.

Sill I have embedded the video below as you do not need the proxy to watch this

Well it is hard to believe that my proxy has been going now for just over 12 months, considering it was just to see if I could set it up. Later I decided to make it available to other expats, to help with the maintenance costs.

What I didn’t expect was the number of new contacts I would make via the proxy. It has also surprised me with the varied backgrounds from students to corporate professionals and to pensioners. On top of this I have had requests from all parts of the world, even to find a Crystal Palace supporter out in Taiwan!

I suppose this is what makes it all worthwhile, in some way I feel I am offering a service that gives us expats a little bit of home when we are so far away. I even had one school teacher in Brazil who wanted it for the football during the English lesson, so they could pick up a bit of our language.  I also have had a number of users doing missionary work; at times I was amazed they could even get an Internet connection.

At some stage in the future there may be no need of a proxy, but when that happens I hope there will still be a reason to keep in contact.

Well it has been a little while since I have written here, partly because I have been busy with a recent change in job and I managed to forget my password to be able to update the blog, not something I should admit to though

Still it has had been a busy month, but I did expect a higher demand for the proxy with the up coming World Cup in South Africa. As a result I was looking at setting up a VPN in case we were not able to watch the live matches via the Proxy.

In the end the stress of trying to get a VPN ready was not necessarily, as fortunately all games played superbly via the proxy, apart from the opening ceremony, which happened to be nothing to do with the proxy, but demand on the ITV Player or the BBC Player, which one I cannot remember now!

Watching the football on both sites you certainly noticed the quality on the BBC was a lot better than ITV, but fortunately most watchable.

Still the process proved worth while as to test a VPN,  I needed to purchase another server, which meant that during the world cup the proxy’s shouldn’t suffer, which proved to be the case.

So last week the world cup finished, with Spain winning and being an Expat and married to a Spaniard, I certainly felt part of all the emotional feelings you get when your team wins, lucky really as England managed to disappoint.

So I am now back to normality and watching Emmerdale and a superb documentary from the BBC on Rolls Royce Engines, which certainly made me feel safer when flying!