Watching RTE from abroad. SmartDNS?

Brian4416

CAn anyone recommend VPN/SmartDNS providers with support for RTE.ie. I could not watch last Sunday's game after my VPN provider failed and I am looking for one that offered really good streaming quality for that game, as I am sure it was heavily subscribed and would have been a great test of DNS service.

Thanks

MagnusDamm

The same happened me. Didnt see a minute of the game thanks to open vpn.

munchkin_utd

MagnusDamm wrote: »

The same happened me. Didnt see a minute of the game thanks to open vpn.

folks, there is an official rights holder abroad who offer a reliable streaming service for a tenner stg a month so thats an option which should work (if you can manage to sign up, which didnt work for me with my pay pal account)

RTE has the rights for Ireland only, so was always blocking access from abroad and recently has stepped up their measures. Not sure if they are being "encouraged" by the rights holders but you can be sure they don't want to leave themselves open to being sued for loss of earnings!

That said, even when subventing the geo-block did work, streaming was patchy at best for big games due to the massive demand, so it not working completely isnt really much less useful than having a successful connection which stops for minutes at a time to buffer and forcing you to listen to RTE radio online.

Rew

I use Hola.org for all my unblocking, if you search there is an RTE script but I haven't verified it. Considering its free you have nothing to lose.

kupus

I was using hola last week and it was terrible constantly refreshing, i gave up in the end and just listened to radio. Hope its better for hurling final, but I doubt it.

munchkin_utd

kupus wrote: »

I was using hola last week and it was terrible constantly refreshing, i gave up in the end and just listened to radio. Hope its better for hurling final, but I doubt it.

i was relying on a proxy for the Ireland v France (Thierry Henry handball- which i bleedin missed!) and that was a pain due to the high demand so I cant imagine watching the small ball game being any better.

TheGoldenAges

Lads there are usually livestreams floating around without the need for proxies or DNS stuff, just post in the match threads near around throw in and I'm sure someone will be nice enough to PM you something.

Brian4416

I have had great success with SmartDNS providers for UK based content, even during heavily subscribed Olympic and 6N coverage. No buffering. I know RTE's pipes may not be great and may struggle under the strain but I believe most VPN/Smart DNS providers only have a less than robust connection with whatever Irish based ISP they are using and so I assume there must be some buffering there. VPNUK worked really quite well when it wasn't region blocked. Hoping there is one that has proved worthwhile for their subscribers of late but will check out OverPlay's offering (was mentioned on another forum).

dastardly00

RTE.ice is generally so busy when they are showing live sports, that even if you did have a reliable VPN/DNS workaround or proxy, it might just end up buffering for most of the match anyway