** UPDATE - THIS IS AN OLD POST ** I am not currently using any of the below services. Here's an updated post.

As an ex-pat USian, I get angry when I'm not able to access sites like Hulu from my home here in Australia. Through a natural evolution in product choice, I've had the chance to evaluate 3 VPN services that make my internet connection appear as if it originates in the US.

A VPN encrypts your connection and actually downloads all content to an intermediate server as it's sending it to your cloaked connection. There are bandwidth costs associated with the service and most VPNs charge.

I've tested these VPNs over the past few months on Macs with both Tiger and Leopard. In all cases there are both Windows and Mac versions available. I'm on a cable connection that averages around 400-500kbps for downloads.

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Anchor Free's Hotspot Shield

The name is misleading as it has has nothing to do with wi-fi hotspots - though they promote the encryption of the connection as being useful for mobile connections. Hotspot Shield is the only one of the three which is actually free. The service is paid for by a banner ad inserted at the top of all web pages. The banner can be closed but it appears every time you load a new page.

On a Mac, the connection is accessed from an icon on the right side of the menu bar. The little shield turns green when it's working.


When I first tried Hotsport Shield about 8 months ago, I found that most blocked content would load smoothly with no buffering. The word is out now though- and Hotsport Shield is a victim of its popularity. Hulu is choppy and buffers heavily. Pandora is hit and miss, sometimes the songs will play smoothly and other times there will be large drops where the service goes silent for over a minute.

It's not a bad solution for standard embedded Youtube clips. There's quite a lot of buffering involved but it's somehow more acceptable when you're not trying to emulate a TV watching experience. One final thing to consider- Hotspot Shield has a download limit of 10gb per month, which we found out early on - watching Lost in Space episodes on Hulu.

Ratings out of 10 for Anchor Free Hotspot Shield:
Hulu 3
Pandora 5
Youtube 7
value 9
Overall 6

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Witopia's Personal VPN

After HotSport Shield got popular I decided to bite the bullet on a pay VPN service. Witopia's Personal VPN is $39.99 for an annual subscription. I was expecting a big improvement as it's pay the riff-raff would be kept out- keeping the connection speedy. In actuality I was disappointed because there wasn't much difference between Witopia's pay product and the free Hotspot Shield. There was a small improvement on Pandora and Hulu, but both were buffering fairly regularly - enough to make a smooth watching/listening session impossible. The Personal VPN client for the Mac works similarly to Hotspot Shield - an open source client called TunelBlick sits on the menu bar. It's Gray until you activate it, then the tunnel icon turns white.


Ratings out of 10 for Witopia's Personal VPN:

Hulu 4
Pandora 6
Youtube 7
value 8
Overall 6.25

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Strong VPN Regular

Many of you know there is no TV in the Dag household - but about a month ago we splashed out for the new 24" iMac. It's a thing of beauty - but that's another post. As this quickly became the home media centre - I still wanted to be able to easily watch (legal) shows online. This time we shelled out for Strong VPN's standard VPN service. It was a price jump at $15 a month - but we learned that you do get what you pay for. Hulu plays for me without stutters or buffering (though not on the 480p high setting) and I haven't had a drop out yet in Pandora. A nice option is that I can choose my VPN server and can make it local in the UK, for BBC content.

Unlike the other services, Strong VPN does not have a separate software client - just a tutorial on how to enter credentials into Apple's own VPN management tool.


Setup was straight forward and now I forget that it's on. I'm usually reminded when I visit a site (like VideoSift) and notice that the contextual ads are for the USA.

Ratings out of 10 for Strong VPN Regular:
Hulu 9
Pandora 9
Youtube 9
value 5
Overall 8

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-- UPDATE 09/10/2008 --


Road Warrior VPN

I've moved on from Strong VPN. Perhaps they are a victim of their own success, but for the last couple of months they have been variable- with some stuttering stop on Comedy Central, Hulu and other region blocked sites.

I'm currently trialing Road Warrior VPN. They appear to be a smaller provider, which may be a good thing, as I'm getting a very good connection at the moment, with no pauses or delays in video. It actually appears to be just as fast with/or without the service turned on. It's an OpenVPN client. I had some initial config problem on the Mac, but the technical support people were very responsive and helpful. This is my current choice for VPN. It's $20 a month which is $5 more than Strong VPN, but if the connection stays this fast and frustration free - it's worth it to me.

Hulu 10
Pandora 9
Youtube 9
value 4
Overall 8

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Finally I can catch up on all of those Lou Grant episodes on Hulu.