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A free VPN program for Chrome or Firefox that gives you access to foreign websites

A free VPN program for Chrome or Firefox that gives you access to foreign websites

Vote: (430 votes)

Program license: Free

Developer: Hola

Version: 1.207.554b

Works under: Windows

Vote:

Program license

(430 votes)

Free

Developer

Version

Hola

1.207.554b

Works under:

Windows

Pros

  • Very easy to use
  • Works with an overwhelming majority of streaming sites
  • Compatible with online radio station
  • Customizable with scripts
  • Relatively fast for an unblocker service

Cons

  • Videos might have to be rate limited
  • Doesn't unblock every region
  • May not work with some browser versions

Hola Unblocker is a browser extension that provides VPN service directly to a browser. Users can install it on either Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to access streaming sites from anywhere in the world. Since Hola changes the external IP address that your browser reports to outside sites, you're free to claim that you're in another country.

That's where the app's name comes from. It gives users the freedom to unblock locked down content so that they're able to stream material from almost any market. Those who might periodically experience a warning that tells them they're not able to watch a video because it's blocked in their country won't have to worry about this once they use Hola's simple widget to adjust their current location.

Installing and deploying the extension is simple. Users can add it to their browser the way that they'd add anything else to it. Once it's loaded, you can set it to explore the web by proxy in order to better protect your privacy.

Unlike most tunneling extensions, however, you shouldn't see too much of a performance drop when working with it. Of course, you're going to experience at least somewhat of a slower speed than you're used to, but it's not going to be anywhere near as dramatic as you might expect. Assuming that you already have a fairly stable connection, you're going to be able to stream video without too much in the way of buffering.

Those who do experience some major lag will want to reduce the bitrate of the content that they're viewing. As soon as they have, they should be able to enjoy their movies or television shows without further interruption. Power users located outside of North America will probably find themselves making extensive use of this feature.

A number of popular video streaming sites will warn users that they're not able to enjoy a stream because of their current location. Anyone in this position can simply start the program and set their public external IP address to be in either the United States or Canada. Once they do, they should find that the blocks in question are suddenly disabled because the services that they're trying to reach believe they've now entered North America.

Ironically, a greater percentage of Americans are now running into this same problem because copyright holders are getting more particular about who can receive certain types of content. In some cases, distributors have blocked content based on the idea that it might offend users because of current events or other concerns. Those who don't want to deal with these restrictions can rely on Hola Unblocker to help them receive all of the content that they would have been able to get in the first place.

Content filters don't just stop people from watching certain videos. These have also become a major problem for those who consume Internet radio streams or who use online music services. When you turn on Hola Unblocker, you'll be given an option to find the right location that will allow you to consume these services as well. Power users will probably want to experiment a bit.

Even though Hola is far better than a traditional tunneling system as far as performance is concerned, it does represent an additional abstraction in the networking stack. Therefore, users may want to switch it on to tune an online radio station and then see if anything happens once they've switched it off. Of course, privacy-minded consumers may wish to take whatever minor performance hit they experience because it additionally prevents them from having to deal with any servers that might log their location and therefore a little bit more of information about them.

Perhaps most importantly, users have a wide array of servers to pick from. The developer has encouraged people to log into a server located in France, Japan, Poland, Canada, Russia, Germany, the UK, the US, Italy or the Netherlands. This alone would be more than enough for an overwhelming majority of people who have to hide their online usage and try to log onto various services to enjoy content that they would otherwise be unable to. In fact, IP addresses from these countries should be able to stream over 90 percent of all the world's publicly available online materials.

That being said, those who do run into problems shouldn't have that much of an issue because a number of other options are presented. Regardless of which server is picked, though, you'll more than likely be surprised at the portability as well.

As soon as you have Hola Unblocker running on your PC, you'll be given the option to download the Android app. This is in no way a requirement, and those without any mobile devices will find that Hola works wonders when it comes to unblocking online content. However, interested parties will have the opportunity to access content on their PCs and their mobile devices equally using this system. That gives you the freedom to start watching something on your phone and then finish it on your PC at a later time. You even have the option of automating certain types of workflows using a very simple scripting language. It's quite powerful in spite of its complexity, which might make it attractive to those who are doing a ton of downloading off peak hours so they can take advance of faster network speeds.

Those who never want to try these advanced features won't feel like they're at all at a loss, however. Hola Unblocker provides plenty of basic functionality that should keep even the most voracious consumers of online content happy for countless hours to come.

Pros

  • Very easy to use
  • Works with an overwhelming majority of streaming sites
  • Compatible with online radio station
  • Customizable with scripts
  • Relatively fast for an unblocker service

Cons

  • Videos might have to be rate limited
  • Doesn't unblock every region
  • May not work with some browser versions

Pros

  • Completely free
  • A vast number of countries to browse from
  • Easy to download and to use
  • The Chrome extension is great for switching in between countries
  • Unblocks a lot of content from around the world
  • Provides greater safety while searching the internet

Cons

  • According to the majority of users it does not unblock Netflix anymore
  • Oftentimes downloading content is slower using the VPN
  • The list of countries, while long, is not exhaustive

Hola! Unblocker is a great tool for those who wish to be a bit more anonymous on the internet in this day and age. Hola Unblocker is a free VPN that users can download in order to have their location register as somewhere else. It is easy to use, even for those with minimal computer savviness. Once downloaded, there is an especially helpful Chrome plugin that allows for easily switching the unblocker on and off. Unlike some paid VPN services where users may have to go back to their computer's desktop before logging in. When users flip on their Hola! Unblocker they are given a list of countries and can select one before browsing. This gives the user not only tremendous protection from anyone wanting to know their location but also allows for a completely different internet viewing experience.

VPNs have been predominantly used by individuals who wish to remain as anonymous as possible during their internet browsing. Recently though, they have become very popular for unlocking country-specific content such as videos and streaming services. Hola! Unblocker allows for anyone to privately access the world wide web without paying for a subscription to a VPN. Hola! Unblocker is a great free tool for those who wish to use a VPN casually for predominately recreational use.

Hola! Unblocker is available for both Windows and Apple operating systems. It works great for the majority of websites, although many people are reporting that Netflix no longer allows for its use with Hola! Unblocker. The list of countries available as a VPN "exit point" is long but not exhaustive. On occasion, there are some lags and dips in the network speed, especially when streaming video content.

Pros

  • Completely free
  • A vast number of countries to browse from
  • Easy to download and to use
  • The Chrome extension is great for switching in between countries
  • Unblocks a lot of content from around the world
  • Provides greater safety while searching the internet

Cons

  • According to the majority of users it does not unblock Netflix anymore
  • Oftentimes downloading content is slower using the VPN
  • The list of countries, while long, is not exhaustive