Has anyone tried Hola

[Shilo 371]

Just came across this news item talking about Hola:

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/hola-tv-watch-olympics-vpn-blocker-netflix-world-2014-1

 

https://hola.org/

 

which is timely because was looking for something that will let me watch the Olympics next month (and March Madness later) without Thai commentary or having to wait for delayed torrents. The piece makes it sound pretty cool and easy to use. But I wanted to see if anyone had any experience with it before I started downloading it to my browser...

[MM 6,562]

Looking at it and installed it...sounds interesting, but I need more time to check it out.

 

Thanks for the timely tip!

[short 215]

still waiting... ;}

[MM 6,562]

Looking at it and installed it...sounds interesting, but I need more time to check it out.

 

Thanks for the timely tip!

 

 

still waiting... ;}

 

Well, it might work, but I think I need some foreign account to test with.

 

It does act like a very flexible VPN though.

[Shilo 371]

Well, I installed the program which was simple and so far pretty easy to use. No major changes to my computer or browser other then it added a small "firely head" icon in the top right corner of the firefox browser...

 

I was able to use it to connect into Hulu which works great. If I try Hulu without it I get a message that says that I must be in the US to use the service. But once I click the firely head it allows me to chose what country I am viewing from and a US connection works every time. On the other hand, I have tried to use it with ABC.com which I use to like to use to catch the national news. It makes the US connection but then the site asks for my American cable tv provider. I haven't been able to get around that question because I don't know which (if any) the Hola system would show to the abc.com site...

 

Next week I plan to test it out on the Olympics coverage and next month to see if it helps with the NCAABB Final Four coverage. A couple of years ago I was able to watch any (or all) of the Final Four Tournament games live. But last year I was getting a message that I had to be viewing from the US.

 

Beyond those that I mentioned above I'm not sure what else it will help with because I don't watch a lot of main stream content over the web other then my NFL Gamepass service for the football games... I just use torrents for everything else. The article that clued me into the program said that it helps with several sites from England. And was great for anyone signed up with a Netflixs account. So for now it's just a niffty tool to have if and when I come across one of those "you have to be in the US to view" messages.

 

Sidenote: it also seems useless to get around the Thai porn censors.

[MM 6,562]

My problem, and apparently yours, is that I don't have any foreign accounts anymore. I think it would be great for someone vacationing outside their first world country.

[Regyai 386]

Streaming Netflix with it without a hitch

 

 

Big thumbs up

 

 

[Shilo 371]

Streaming Netflix with it without a hitch

 

 

Big thumbs up

 

 

 

I have no clue about Netflix... never used it. Do you need an account or does it offer anything for free? I always assumed that it was a pay-per-view service...

 

Sidenote: has anyone tried USTVnow.com? I ran into a guy here in Pattaya who used it to watch college football. It lets you stream about 6 stations for free on a feed coming out of Philly. I signed up but could never get it to work properly. Great response times from their online customer service group but their best efforts never fixed the problem.

 

http://www.ustvnow.com/

[short 215]

 

 

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/tech/2014/01/31/hola-internet-app-allows-you-to-access-netflix-from-anywhere.cnn.html

 

 

According to this cnn article, HOLA also allows third parties to access the vpn using your computer. I didn't say if you have control over that.

[MM 6,562]

 

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/tech/2014/01/31/hola-internet-app-allows-you-to-access-netflix-from-anywhere.cnn.html

 

 

According to this cnn article, HOLA also allows third parties to access the vpn using your computer. I didn't say if you have control over that.

That's the whole point of the overlay they built over the existing internet.

 

You ever use torrents? There are third parties, possibly hundreds of them, accessing your computer when you do.

 

[Shilo 371]

Can someone help me to understand this piece... I tried reading though it but came away confused.

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/2014-the-year-america-ruined-the-internet-2014-2

 

As best I can tell it is suggesting that there are some big changes coming that will give more power to the American ISP Corps but I'm not sure what if any effect it might have on the rest of us around the globe...

[RhinoTusk 4,901]

I have no clue about Netflix... never used it. Do you need an account or does it offer anything for free? I always assumed that it was a pay-per-view service...

 

Sidenote: has anyone tried USTVnow.com? I ran into a guy here in Pattaya who used it to watch college football. It lets you stream about 6 stations for free on a feed coming out of Philly. I signed up but could never get it to work properly. Great response times from their online customer service group but their best efforts never fixed the problem.

 

http://www.ustvnow.com/

I use usatvnow.com to watch Seinfeld reruns and even used it to watch the Super Bowl a few years ago. Never had a problem with it. It uses a Flash player so isn't going to work on a tablet that doesn't support a Flash plug-in.

[Shilo 371]

I use usatvnow.com to watch Seinfeld reruns and even used it to watch the Super Bowl a few years ago. Never had a problem with it. It uses a Flash player so isn't going to work on a tablet that doesn't support a Flash plug-in.

 

I was trying to use it with my home desktop computer and I have watched a lot of other streaming content with a Flash player.. for whatever reason, the usatvnow system would just keep buffering without starting the program. The customer service guys gave me a direct link to a player that would load if I clicked the start several times till something caught... but that site stopped working when my 30 day trial ran out. So the free service only seems available on the main site which has never worked for me.

 

My best guess is that it didn't connect well with my fiber optic ISP.

 

But I still recommend it to any other expats who want to watch live feeds of primary American channels like ABC,CBS,NBC and FOX.