Yesterday evening I was scrolling through Facebook like usual. I use Facebook more like a news collector than a social platform (a good ratio would be around 70:30), so the majority of the content comes from (reliable) news sites, science news pages, etc.
That was when I came across a post from ScienceAlert, where they promoted killer deals with some sites. One of them was Getflix. The deal was that for a ridiculous amount of money, I’d get a lifetime Smart DNS subscription.
Since I’m not from the United States (I’m from Hungary) and I use Netflix on a daily basis, it caught my attention. Previously I used VPN to access the US content on Netflix, but last year they managed to block HTTP proxies and VPNs really efficiently. Unfortunately I had to give up at a point and accept that I can watch only a fraction of Netflix’s content.
This is why I was happy to try Getflix, and I couldn’t be more satisfied!
They are an Australia based provider, who have servers around the world. Since my goal with this subscription was to bypass the location based blocking, first thing was after I finished the registration to set up the Smart DNS and try Netflix.
Netflix works a bit tricky in a way that if it thinks you come from a certain country, they show you the available content for that region – and this is as far as I could go with a regular VPN (PureVPN). But when you want to actually play something that is unavailable at your location, you get an error message that you use a HTTP Proxy or VPN. Busted.
Now that wasn’t the case with Getflix’s SmartDNS. The funny thing is it took me a minute to set up the whole thing. I use a Windows 10 PC, and it was like nothing.
At first I was a bit disappointed, because I was able to see only the regular (available from Hungary) content, and after I double checked the Getflix dashboard, I realized that I didn’t turn on Netflix on the region settings.
After I turned it on, I was able to see the US content, and more importantly I was able to play anything.
There’s are more ways to use SmartDNS: you can set it up on only your PC/Phone/Tablet/Anything, or you can set it up in your router (if it supports to change the default gateways). Unfortunately my modem+router combo that I got from my ISP doesn’t support this, but I’ll use a router later that does, so any device connected to my network will be able to use Getflix’s service.
This will solve the problem that my Chromecast 2 currently can’t play US content.
Getflix’s manage page is really self-explanatory.
There is the side menu, so you can find what you want. The dashboard collects all important information about your subscription, your regional settings (see image above) and about the current IP and DNS status.
The status tiles are the ones that you want to look out for regularly, because if your IP address changes, you won’t be able to use Getflix’s service.
Easy to understand status check on the Dashboard:
When the DNS setting is out of sync with Getflix, just press the Update Registered IP button (or use the bookmarked url) and it refreshes:
It is a nice thing, that Getflix can generate a link for you that you can bookmark, and if you open it, it will refresh the settings to your current IP, and you’re good to go.
On the other hand, I was a bit surprised that they even support Dynamic DNS too. If you’re using a dynamic dps service, like DynDNS or No-IP, you don’t even need to bother with the bookmark, because Getflix is able to track your Dynamic DNS domain. If you’re a bit of advanced user, this means that there’s a program installed on your PC that gives your machine (to your IP) a domain name, eg. myusername.dyndsn.com, and when someone for example enters this address in their address bar, they end up on your PC (the web server on your PC) and see the site you’re hosting for example. Or you can use this for other things, for example hosting a Teamspeak3 server. Anyhow, it makes a connection between your PC (IP) and the Dynamic DNS domain.
This way when you start/restart your PC or the installed Dynamic DNS program refreshed the dynamic domain because your IP has changed (IPSs tend to change your external IP from time to time even if you don’t restart your modem), it refreshes automatically, and you’ll never have to manually set anything.
Convenient, right?
You also get a list, a history of IP address updates, so you can make sure your account is not used by someone else (for example when you set your password to 123456 and someone knows you use Getflix and knows your email address :)).
Under the Regions menu item, you can setup your region settings (see first image). You can find here extra settings too under the ones on the dashboard image by default, you can set up 4 channel groups too (called Channel Group A-D). Clean and simple.
Under Subscription, you can see when will your current subscription expire, and you can extend your current one. You can use credit card, Paypal and promo code.
Since I bought the deal mentioned at the beginning of the post, I used the promo code option (I got it with the purchase). The “Lifetime” subscription means in fact 30 years, so mine will expire in 2047 – that’s pretty much can considered ad lifetime.
The Account section is quite simple and self-explanatory, you can set your first and last name, your email address, change your password, and you can connect your account with social media accounts too, so you can log in with those as well: Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, and Live (which is the Microsoft/Windows Live account).
This is handy, and makes it really easy to log in on your mobile/tablet, if you use Getflix’s app. It’s really a one-click login. Actually, two, but still just a few seconds. 🙂
Under the Account, there’s the VPN menu item. Getflix offers a free optional VPN service for their active subscribers. It was by default turned off, but it’s just a click, and you have a secure VPN too. They even have a DNS-over-VPN service, currently in Beta.
The last menu item is Apps, where you can find app download links, pointing to Google Play Store and Apple Appstore, and they have a desktop application too for Mac.
The fun part is that they have an API, you get an API key for your subscription, so if you’re a developer, you can use their service through the API.
The management site is really easy to use, and they have lots of info linked under certain menu items pointing to articles where you can find answers to question you even didn’t have, it’s really detailed, with step-by-step configurations with screenshots, etc.
After getting familiar with the management part of Getflix, let’s see what Getflix offers in detail!
You can find a long channel list that Getflix can unblock by clicking here.
Check out which DNS servers you can use worldwide, here. On the left, there’s a menu where you can find help to setting up Smart DNS with detailed explanation and screenshots on Windows, Apple Mac, PS3 / PS4, Xbox 360 / One, Nintendo Wii / Wii U, iOS (iPhone/iPad), Android, Apple TV, Roku, WD TV Live.
For more detailed info, check out the Getflix site (Pricing, FAQ) and check out Getflix’s giveaway promotin!
Happy safe and unrestricted browsing! 🙂
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