Despite raves about Hola, one thing dampens most people’s experience: it doesn’t let you access US Netflix despite claims. This isn’t really surprising; most free VPNs don’t have topnotch features and capabilities that can unblock Netflix or other geo-restrictions.
The inability to unblock US Netflix is not the only issue with Hola
Why can’t Hola bypass Netflix geo-block
Netflix makes use of sophisticated technology that doesn’t only help the site implement geo-blocking, but also aid in blocking VPNs. The easiest VPNs to block are those that are offered for free (like Hola) since they don’t have advanced capabilities that can bypass a
I used to use a VPN called Hola to use the American version of Netflix as it’s 1000x better than the UK version, but now Netflix have blocked most free VPN’s and I’m not ready to buy one lol. I wish we had Hulu in the UK. Maybe with the Disney acquisition we’ll be able to soon.
— Jack ? (@jack_thfc_) March 27, 2019
If you’re like the Twitter user above who want to access the US Netflix library but is not yet ready to pay for a
We tested many
[affilioProvider max=”2″ top=”n” cat=’netflix’]
How do VPN providers get around the Netflix VPN ban?
We have tested each of the
These recommended
- Wide network of servers: A provider with more than 2,000 servers is a good choice. Apart from the quantity, you also have to look at the server locations. If you’re looking to unblock US Netflix, then make sure that the
VPN has multiple servers spread throughout the US. The same is true if you want to access content specific to other countries. - Fast streaming experience: There are instances when a
VPN can improve the speed of your Netflix connection by bypassing ISP speed throttling. We observed this when we tested theVPN providers listed above. The short video below proves that the rightVPN can improve connection speed:
There are also
- Thousands of IP addresses: One method by which Netflix blocks VPNs is IP address blocking. Netflix blocks IP addresses that are known to be assigned to a
VPN provider. It can also detect IP addresses that are consuming more than the normal bandwidth. This is the main reason why free VPNs are easily blocked—when thousands of people use the same IP address, this raises a red flag that the IP address is associated with aVPN and needs to be blocked.
Top
Alternatives to Hola
Hola is a free
- You become a proxy server: While on the Hola P2P network, each user is a proxy server used to forward someone else’s traffic. This means that you could be held responsible for illegal activities that other people within the Hola network are doing. Check out the video below to know how Hola sells your IP address and bandwidth to Luminati, Hola’s sister
VPN service.
- Logging policy: Hola logs and stores a lot of user information, as stated on its privacy policy page. Here’s a quote from this policy: “Personal information is information that may be of a private or sensitive nature, and which identifies or may identify you. The Personal Information we may collect and retain includes your IP address, your name and email address, screen name, payment and billing information or other information we may ask from time to time as will be required for the on-boarding process and services provisioning.” Furthermore, although Hola does not sell or rent personal information, but it may disclose them to trusted third party service providers, subsidiaries, and affiliated companies.
- No encryption: VPNs are characterized by the secure encryption tunnel they create for their users’ connections. According to research done by Trend Micro, Hola doesn’t encrypt traffic at all. For this reason, it’s unfair to call Hola a
VPN service when it fails to secure and anonymize its users.
- Questionable security: Because of the lack of encryption, Hola is susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks and other threats to online security. True enough, Hola has a history of being used for botnet attacks, and there’s no reason this won’t happen again.
- Slows down your connection: You will be sharing your bandwidth with other users, so your connection will naturally slow down.
With these items making Hola an unattractive
Hopefully this works ok, but if not I have a 30 day money back guarantee on my VPN 🙂 Some Italian streamer is already live on Twitch though??
— Jason Balfour (@_oO_Ghost_Oo_) March 11, 2019
There are also free
Whatever