Bans and restrictions have become rampant in today’s internet. These practices are carried out by various parties and for various reasons. For example, your company or school may block you from accessing certain websites using their network to boost productivity. Governments, on the other hand, may block citizens from accessing certain resources, a ban which is implemented through the ISP.
A more frustrating type of restriction is when you want to access certain content which is available to other people for free or is available on your premium streaming service, but you can’t because of geo-restrictions. The good news is, there are various ways to go about each of these restrictions. For example, if you are a kickboxing fan and you want to access geo-restricted streams, you can see how to watch kickboxing for free here.
How to Access Blocked Sites
Use a VPN
Using a VPN (short for Virtual Private Network) is the best and most effective way of accessing blocked websites. A VPN works by first encrypting your traffic, and then sending it securely to a private server of your choice. This server then gives you a new IP address and connects you to the internet.
Since you are now connecting to the internet through a server that does not belong to your ISP, you will have bypassed all ISP and government restrictions. From there, you can access the internet as if you are located where the server you chose is located.
Using a Proxy Server
A proxy is similar to a VPN in that it comes between your ISP and the internet. However, the two also have significant differences. A proxy simply receives all your data requests, makes them to the internet on your behalf, and then relays the response back to you.
This means that you will be able to access blocked sites since the proxy servers are different from your ISP servers. However, they do not provide the security that comes with VPN encryption, and they are not as effective in overcoming censorships and the IP blocking used by streaming services.
Using Smart DNS
If you want to access a streaming site that is not available in your area or you wish to change your streaming library, Smart DNS is a superb option. These services have proven to be quite useful in recent years, especially after streaming services started blocking VPNs.
Unlike a VPN, Smart DNS works by only routing information about your location, and only for specific services that you’d like to unblock. The service can be easily set up by replacing your ISP DNS. After that, you’ll be able to access the streaming service you’d like.
Apart from that, simply changing your DNS from the ISP one can also work for you. This is because some ISPs block websites at the DNS level. You can try Google’s DNS 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4
Google Translate
You may not know this, but Google Translate can actually be used to access a blocked site. The best thing is, schools, companies, and governments don’t even block it because it is considered an educational tool.
If you wish to access a blocked website, just open Google Translate and enter the site you want to access. Note that the trick won’t work if you try to translate the same language. However, you can just set the source language to something different and it will work.
Using Tor
Tor is another option that you can use to access all sites blocked by your ISP, and even others that are not available on the surface web. Otherwise known as The Onion Router, this is a tool that connects your device to several servers on the dark web to give anonymity and online freedom. To set it up, all you need to do is install the Tor browser.
However, you may experience a significant degradation of your connection speeds.
