Music & Video Tunlr first look: watch TV worldwide on the Internet

[vissha]

Tunlr first look: watch TV worldwide on the Internet

A first look at Tunrl, a new service that enables you to access Internet TV and radio services from around the world.

There is certainly no shortage when it comes to solutions to watching Internet TV that you are blocked from accessing because of your geographical location in the world.

The three main solutions that dominate the landscape are virtual private networks (VPNs), proxy-based solutions, and DNS-based solutions.

All offer advantages and disadvantages. VPN solutions for instance protect your IP address in all programs you run on the system while DNS-based solutions use your computer's bandwidth when it comes to the streaming part of the equation which often is faster than using a provider's bandwidth for that.

Tunlr is a DNS-based solution that is currently in Open Beta. The service requires sign-up before you can give it a go, and that sign-up is pushing it in terms of what you need to do to gain access.

While you can sign-up using email, you are asked to share the fact on Facebook or Twitter, or to invite at least one friend per email before you gain access to the service. That's however not entirely true, as you can skip that part without doing that and still gain access to the service's functionality.

Once you have signed up you may open the setup instructions for the operating system you are working on to enable the service on it.

This involves changing DNS servers that the connection uses. It is done quickly and the instructions are detailed. Windows users can use a program like DNS Jumper instead to make the process comfortable, as it is possible then to switch between DNS providers with the click of the mouse button.

Another advantage of doing so is that you may use it to enable the Tunlr DNS servers only when needed this way. While you can do so manually as well, it is more comfortable this way and faster.

The service's dashboard lists popular services on start. While there is no mention of it, it is likely that it is using the computer's IP address to identify users to provide that option and gain more control.

Available are a handful of services currently including Netflix, BBC, Fox, Pandora, ABC or Crunchyroll. There is also a vote going on that you can participate in to suggest new services to be added to Tunlr.

Once you have set up the DNS servers on the computer, you are ready to go. All you need to do is point your browser to the desired service's website, e.g. BBC, to start watching or listening to content provided by it.

This works without delays and well for all services supported even for the BBC which recently announced that it would start to block VPNs from bypassing its georestrictions.

Closing Words

Tunlr is free during the beta but it may not be free once the service leaves beta. It is possible that a free tier will be offered but the company behind the product has made no mention of it yet.

As is the case with all of these services, it comes down to price and availability. Considering that you can get access to VPN services that promise unlimited data for less than $3 per month, a price set too high could be the doom of the service from the get go.

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