Last Updated on October 11, 2023

Smart DNS Systems – Proxy Alternative

There’s a lot of information on this site, about the various methods used to filter, block and deny access to specific websites. Content filters, geo-blocking and firewalls now form part of the internet’s infrastructure rather than existing in isolation to protect genuinely secure networks. Of course, there have always been ways around them and in reality, if you had something like the portable version of Identity Cloaker stored on a USB drive, you were normally able to bypass them. But in reality, most people wouldn’t want to get involved in the world of proxies, VPNs and encryption because basically they just wanted to watch stuff online.

After all, if you’re faced with a big shiny flat screen Smart TV, and you find you can’t watch a video on YouTube or The Simpsons on Hulu – then downloading PC software is not going to get your far. The reality is that we access the internet in so many different ways nowadays and via a computer is just one of these. In my home just for an example, the devices capable of browsing the internet include computers, tablets, phones, TVs, an Xbox and a Wii and probably more. The challenge is to enable those devices to have unrestricted access to specific websites, not just the computers.

Issues in Installing VPN Client Software

Therein lies the difficulty, you can’t install PC based software on your phone, TV and Games console. The most you’ll be able to control is the device’s network settings from some generic menu like this –

This will be the same for your phone, Smart TV and tablet – most devices will allow you access to these settings somehow. Although there are some which don’t – the annoying Roku won’t let you manually change all these network settings for some reason (Geek Note: although you can remotely assign them through DHCP).

Fortunately, now this is all it takes is to use Smart DNS – which you can see from this video demonstrating the procedure on an iPad.

So, to bypass all but the most fiendish network blocks all you need to do is to be able to manually alter the DNS settings. Unlock BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Pandora and Netflix on any electronic device you need, just by using Smart DNS.  It’s usually just as effective as using a proxy for BBC iPlayer but at a smaller cost.

It’s a wonderful piece of technology, designed to bypass the commercialism and control that corporations are seeking to impose on the internet user. It’s simple to use, cheap and doesn’t impact your connection, so I thoroughly recommend it. Remember the video above – Change DNS iPad settings enable Smart DNS on the tablet, but it works the same on any internet enabled device, just find those network settings and change your DNS server to a Smart one.