Accessing UK-only sites

Posted: Tue, 01/05/2010 - 13:44

 I live in the UK and my son would like to access BBC iPlayer, but is blocked because the access request appears to be coming from outside the UK (the BBC does not distribute their replay service overseas).  Is there a way to get around this?  Is it something to do with the way I registered for Mobicip (possibly clicking a US check box), or is this a technical matter?  Thanks for any help.  Alex  

‹ Blinkx allowed with filtering off you tube question and problem ›

BBC i player

  • Guest
  • Mon, 11/15/2010 - 03:52
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Also living in the UK with a son using an ipod touch. We have installed Mobicip and cannot access BBC iplayer.  I really hope you can come up with a solution.  Thanks, Richard

UK VPN

  • Guest
  • Thu, 11/17/2011 - 01:54
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The best and permanent solution to your problem is to get a UK VPN service. When you get one you will be able to connect to a UK VPN server which will assign you a server generated IP. That IP will be UK based and will mask your originial IP, hence it will look like as if you or your son live in UK. BBC will allow you to stream your favorite content without any issue..I hope this will solve your problem once and for all..

 

Re: BBC i player

  • Mon, 11/15/2010 - 13:01
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Our dev team is investigating another way of supporting BBC iPlayer through Mobicip. Please bear with us and we will post an update on this thread soon.

Mobicip Support

BBC iPlayer on Mobicip

  • Tue, 01/05/2010 - 18:04
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We do have several hundred customers in the UK who use Mobicip regularly. We have users in other EU nations and even in Australia.

You can expect Mobicip to work, but with two caveats:

1. The performance may be sluggish compared to Safari. We haven't heard from users that it is significantly slower, but I would imagine it would be a tad slower.

2. We don't have a UK-based server yet. Some sites in the UK like BBC block access from users outside the UK. So even if you are located there, using Mobicip would imply that the access would be coming from outside the UK, causing the site to be incorrectly blocked.

We are working on setting up a UK-based server, and we expect it to go live by the end of January. Please bear with us and we will post an update here as soon it is ready.

UPDATE: We do continue to have problems with BBC iPlayer at this time. Our dev team is trying to identify solutions to this problem without compromising the security and integrity of our service. However, we don't have an ETA at this time.

The only workaround we can recommend is that you download the Bookmarks-Only-Browser (b.o.b) from the App Store (or click here). This is a free app that allows your child to visit only the websites that are stored as bookmarks within the browser. The bookmarks are in turn protected by a password. Simply add the BBC iPlayer website as a bookmark and use this app to access BBC alone.

Please bear with us and we will continue to work on a good solution to this problem.

We appreciate your patience and support

Mobicip Support

Accessing UK-only sites

  • Guest
  • Wed, 01/20/2010 - 08:34
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 Thank you for the reply.  A UK server would be great.  

UK Server

  • Guest
  • Mon, 02/01/2010 - 07:42
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 I'll second that, we really need a UK based server urgently.

This is a MUST if Mobicip is to become more popular here in the UK. My children both complain that they have lost the use of BBC iPlayer with Mobicip and it's getting harder to keep them from committing mutiny    ;-)

Please put a notice on your website as soon as the new server is up as well as instructions as to how we re-configure our installations.

Many thanks, good to see you're listening...

Florian

Re: UK Server

  • Mon, 02/01/2010 - 10:31
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Absolutely! We will post here as soon as it goes live.

Though we are behind schedule by a few days, we have made a lot of progress and the system is being setup and tested now. Please bear with us and we will post a notice asap.

Mobicip Support

 Hi again, Any news yet

  • Guest
  • Tue, 02/23/2010 - 05:59
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 Hi again,

Any news yet about the UK server please?!

Thanks
Florian 

UK server now live!

  • Tue, 02/23/2010 - 09:52
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Florian, alexk

We know you have been waiting patiently for this. Mobicip's UK server is now live. There is nothing you need to change to use the UK server. The next time you launch Mobicip on the iPod Touch or iPhone, it will automatically connect to the nearest server.

While we tested the server thoroughly, and we know that the performance is vastly improved, we are not sure if the BBC iPlayer problem is solved since we don't have a physical presence in the UK. We would really appreciate it if one of you folks could try out the BBC iPlayer from the Mobicip browser, and let us know if the problem is solved.

Thanks for your patience and support as we rolled this out. Any feedback you can provide will be much appreciated.

Mobicip Support

I've tried it on my son's

  • Guest
  • Tue, 02/23/2010 - 16:07
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I've tried it on my son's iPod Touch but it still doesn't work.

The site still tells me that it doesn't support BBC iPlayer outside the UK.

I've rebooted the iPod, just in case it hadn't logged onto your UK server. Is there any way of checking which server it uses?

Please advise

Many thanks
Florian

Re: I've tried it on my son's

  • Tue, 02/23/2010 - 17:09
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Florian

Thanks for the note. We are looking into this some more. Looks like BBC is using more than the location of the server to determine where the access is coming from. We are in touch with their technical staff, so let us see if that helps any.

We will continue to keep you posted on this. Thanks for your patience.

Mobicip Support

Re: I've tried it on my son's

  • Tue, 02/23/2010 - 22:19
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Florian

After tracking down your username, we were able to verify that your iPod Touch is indeed using the UK server now. Do you see any difference in the browser performance over last week? Does it appear to be more zippy and responsive now?

We will need your help to fix the BBC iPlayer problem. You should receive a private request from us to your registered email. Your feedback is much appreciated, and hopefully we should get this going soon.

Mobicip Support

Have just loaded this onto my sons ipod touch

  • Guest
  • Mon, 03/29/2010 - 13:28
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Still not playing BBC iplayer although it does load quickly!

Re: Have just loaded this onto my sons ipod touch

  • Wed, 04/07/2010 - 15:58
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After exhausting all other options, we have contacted the BBC iPlayer team regarding this issue. We are hoping for a resolution soon. Please bear with us and we will post an update here as soon as we hear from them. We apologize for the continued problems accessing the iPlayer through Mobicip.

Mobicip Support

BBC i Player

  • Guest
  • Thu, 06/24/2010 - 04:46
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Do we have any news on this yet. It has been a while since we have heard anything and my children are desperate to use I Player and can't. Are we any nearer to resolving this problem?

 

Re: BBC i Player

  • Thu, 06/24/2010 - 14:45
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Ok. We have good news and bad news.

Bad news first. We have been trying to get in touch with the BBC iPlayer team to resolve this issue. But it appears that BBC itself is quite unsure about how to handle such requests from 3rd party developers like us. Without their support in at least answering our questions, we are not able to resolve this issue.

However, the good news is that BBC Worldwide has launched its own iPhone / iPad app on the App Store. The BBC News app provides news stories as well as embedded videos that play using the iPlayer streaming service. The app may not be the equivalent of iPlayer, but you should definitely try it out.

Here is a link to the BBC News app on iTunes - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bbc-news/id364147881?mt=8.

Meanwhile we are hoping that BBC relaxes the rules for viewing content from outside the UK sometime soon. We will certainly keep you posted if we make progress on this front.

Mobicip Support

Where is the UK server?

  • Guest
  • Thu, 01/06/2011 - 08:53
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Don't know if this will help solve the problem, but i use Mobicip and am in the UK, and yesterday i was stopped from logging into the facebook due to access from an unexpected location - fair enough, i presumed this was because of the Mobicip proxy

Today i logged into facebook from my PC and the facebook site told me the unexpected location was Dublin.  Is this the location of the UK server?  Dublin, being in the Repulic of Ireland, which is not part of the UK, is not served by the BBC, and so it may be that a change in server location to a country that the BBC serve (e.g. england, scotland, wales or northern ireland) might solve the problem.

Re: Where is the UK server?

  • Tue, 01/11/2011 - 17:52
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Our European server is indeed located in Ireland. However, we did setup a dedicated server based in London to solve the BBC problem specifically. However, we were surprised ourselves that even with the London server, BBC iPlayer was not accessible through Mobicip.

We thank you for your enthusiastic feedback. Please bear with us as we are exploring other solutions to the problem.

Mobicip Support

I-player debacle continuing?

  • Guest
  • Tue, 08/31/2010 - 08:36
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 I have just purchased mobicip and put it on my 3 kids' i-pod touches,I am pleased that it has done what it said on the tin really well, however I and they are really disappointed they can't get BBC I-player, will it ever work or do I need to move from Mobicip?

 

Workaround for BBC iPlayer

  • Fri, 09/03/2010 - 13:20
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This is a weird workaround, but it might just work. There are some single website browsers available for free on the App Store. For instance, CloudApp2 allows access to a single website that is entered into its settings page. It is only useful when the single website visited has its own internal navigation scheme, like BBC iPlayer for instance. CloudApp2 is a free download from the App Store.

Could you please try this:

1. Download CloudApp2 from the App Store.

2. Go to Settings > CloudApp2, and set the URL to

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/

3. Launch CloudApp2 and see if iPlayer is usable from this browser.

If this works, then you can have your kids use the CloudApp2 app to access BBC iPlayer, and Mobicip for the rest of the Internet, ensuring they are within the boundaries of acceptable use.

Please try this and let us know if it works. We will try to get word out to other users in the UK who may have a similar need.

Mobicip Support

http://www.mobicip.com/helpdesk

 

HI   I am looking to allow

  • Guest
  • Sat, 08/28/2010 - 22:48
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HI

 

I am looking to allow access on my daughters IPOD to the BBC Iplayer, do you have any further news?

 

thanks

 

See this response to the same

  • Fri, 09/03/2010 - 15:43
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See this response to the same questions above. We are not sure if this workaround will work. Please do try it (you should be physically in the UK to tes ti correctly) and let us know if it solves the problme, albeit termporarily.

Mobicip Support

Using cloudapp2 to get onto BBC iplayer

  • Guest
  • Thu, 10/28/2010 - 02:55
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I'm afraid the use of cloudapp2 to get onto BBC iplayer is a no go. I tried it, But for some reason apple have removed cloudapp2 from the app store, and I can't find anything similar. Perhaps you could recommend another app? Many thanks.

Re: Using cloudapp2 to get onto BBC iplayer

  • Sun, 10/31/2010 - 18:22
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Yes, you are correct. CloudApp4 is no longer available and the developer has stopped supporting it. Apparently Apple has decided to stop supporting single-use apps like this one. This is the note from the developer:

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Apple is interested at this point in making sure limited-use single functionality applications (like CloudApp) are not available for the iPad. As such, new versions of CloudApp will not be approved by Apple for sale in the AppStore. As such, I've removed CloudApp1 from the appstore (because it was an older version than CloudApp2 through CloudApp4) and won't be making any new versions of the application.

It looks like CloudApp4 is still available for download although development has been halted. We have heard from several users that it is not available in the UK App Store. Perhaps you can try to create a US iTunes account and try to download the app that way.

Otherwise, our engineering team is working on a better solution to this problem. Please bear with us and we will post an update as soon as the plan is finalized.

Mobicip Support

BBC iplayer support

  • Guest
  • Sat, 01/22/2011 - 11:53
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Hi,

Any news on being able to run the BBC iplayer through mobicip in the UK withouth having to fudge things? I would like to purchase the browser but if it won't allow the BBC site to run then it's no use to me.

BBC iplayer

  • Guest
  • Wed, 11/24/2010 - 15:10
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For people who don't fancy downloading cloudapp via the US iTunes, I have discovered that if one downloads the facebook app (which is free) from the app store, and searches 'BBC iplayer' under 'pages', the facebook page for BBC iplayer comes up, and in clicking the 'info' tab of the page, one is shown the website of BBC iplayer, and can use that website by clicking on the link. It is a bit of a pain to have to get round things this way, but it does allow one to access BBC iplayer alone, whilst retaining mobicip as a conventional web browser. I hope this is of help.

iplayer

  • Guest
  • Sat, 01/22/2011 - 11:59
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Any news regarding access to the BBC's iplayer?

Re: iplayer

  • Wed, 01/26/2011 - 07:15
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Unfortunately, we don't have a resolution to this problem as yet.

We do continue to have problems with BBC iPlayer at this time. Our dev team is trying to identify solutions to this problem without compromising the security and integrity of our service. However, we don't have an ETA at this time.

The only workaround we can recommend is that you download the Bookmarks-Only-Browser (b.o.b) from the App Store (or click the link below). This is a free app that allows your child to visit only the websites that are stored as bookmarks within the browser. The bookmarks are in turn protected by a password. Simply add the BBC iPlayer website as a bookmark and use this app to access BBC alone.

Please bear with us and we will continue to work on a good solution to this problem.

b.o.b. lite

  • Guest
  • Fri, 02/11/2011 - 05:34
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The Bookmarks Only browser b.o.b. lite does work for viewing iPlayer on an ipod touch - and only permits one URL unless you upgrade, but that's perfect if you just want iPlayer. And it's free.

I don't understand why b.o.b. can access iPlayer when mobicip can't.

Well that's the morning gone!

still need iplayer

  • Guest
  • Fri, 02/11/2011 - 04:41
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drat - I only purchased mobicip so as to get the iplayer. Could you highlight this info on the home page?

Please keep looking into this. Meantime I will try b.o.b.