I just purchased Premium Service with the intention of watching UK-only video content at s4c.co.uk/clic, but I still cannot access the videos. As well as embeded Flash streams, they stream shows to Windows Media Player through multistream.co.uk.

I'd really appreciate some help in accessing this video content, otherwise I've just wasted a lot of money.

When you state that you cannot acces the videos, what do you mean? There are many reasons why this could happen.

In order for any tech support to be of assistance, it is very important that you give a very detailed reason as to why something is (or is not) happening as it should.

Thanks for your response, but I don't know what more I can tell you.

Assuming some staff here use Hide My IP themselves and have Premium Setup, I hoped they might just try and view some of the site's video content themselves and in doing so replicate and understand the situation I'm in.

If and when we establish the problem is with my setup, I'll gladly give you all the details, but I don't think I've missed anything. I've deleted all cookies, used a UK IP in Premium Setup, checked the boxes to use Premium High-Speed service and to hide my IP in Windows Media Player, and have tried the site in Firefox and IE. The same setup IS letting me use the BBC iPlayer, so it just seems ineffective with S4C.

I really hope we can resolve this somehow, and I think you'll understand best if you try it yourself. If it works for you, I'll be somewhat reassured that it can also work for me.

Streaming video is always a problem with Internet connections. The reception speed depends upon a variety of factors over which we often times have no control.

- The closer you are (geographically) to the source of the stream, the better the speed
- How busy that web site's server is a factor
- How many people are viewing that same video
- The faux IP address you are using may also be a factor as it may be a slow IP at that time (change IP's)
- The speed of your computer's processor (and what background programs may be running at that time)
- Video streaming also must pass from their server through the proxy servers & will always cause some kind of slow down

We have also found that DSL service in smaller, less technologically advanced countries can be very poor for streaming, especially on the lower end of the DSL services that are offered in those countries. Of course cable and T1 lines are the best, but not always available or just too expensive for the individual to be worth while.

Because of the above variables, we cannot say with certainty that the limitation is with our server. We have found that customers who are in Europe (i.e. France, Spain, etc.) don't seem to have the speed issue (as often) that you are describing. Most likely because they are closer to the source of the UK video stream.

There are "small" things you can do to be certain you're getting the best possible video streaming speed:
- Clear your cache all of the time before watching videos
- Make sure all unnecessary background program processors are not running
- Switch faux IP to one that may be faster
- If possible, boost your DSL or Cable speed connection by contacting your ISP.

We test all such situations when a customer provides us with sufficient information to make certain that the problem is not wide spread, but unique to that customer. In this situation, we have tested the iBBC and have found it running as expected in the United States with a UK IP address.

My problem isn't with any BBC content and I've specifically said so. The channel and website I'm having problems with is S4C. Surely then, in accordance with the statement above, you should test-watch video content at s4c.co.uk?

I appreciate your thoughts that connection distance and speed may be possible causes, but I am quite confident that in my case, they are not. I easily download at speeds of around 1Mbps and frequently watch other streaming video sources from Europe and elsewhere in the world. Further, the UK-only restrictions on S4C's video content have only recently been implemented and previous to them being introduced I was able to watch the site's video media as well as the channel's live video stream without any issues (and I've upgraded my connection speed since then).

I'm going to be as specific as I can with regards to addressing the potential problems you mentioned.


There's a time difference of 9 hours, so I'm pretty sure while I'm accessing the site, almost the whole of the site's target audience, which isn't that large, is fast asleep in bed.


I paid $84.95 for, and I quote from this very site, "faster surfing and downloading with Premium IPs." I've changed IPs a number of times, but with no effect.


Intel Core 2 6400@2.13GHz, 2.0GB of RAM.
I've tried with all other programs closed. Still no success.


I'm in South Korea.

"Internet users in South Korea soon may be able to download a movie in just two seconds... with upload and download speeds of 1 Gbps. South Korea was already one of the most wired places on earth, where its citizens enjoy an average download speed of 43.3 Mbps. The average American download rate, by comparison, hangs around 8.9 Mbps, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). One thing is clear; America's cyber infrastructure has a long way to go if it wants to keep up with the rest of the developed world."
-PC World, 3 February 2009
http://www.pcworld.com/article/158799/sout..._broadband.html

The enhanced speed that our customers enjoy from using the Premium Service Subscription comes from the priority Premium users get in the ques. We reserve the highest speeds for the Premium users. If not many people are using the system, then the Basic version users and the Premium Service users may both experience nearly equal speeds. But, during high traffic times, Premium users get priority access/speed.

Based upon that, there is no way we can give an assessment/comparison/percentage of one speed over another. To do so could be considered misrepresentation.

The quality of streaming video depends on location more then anything.

If you are in South Korea, and connect to our UK proxy the video information has to travel from the source server, to our UK server, then from our server to you, the customer. Our server will most likly be connected to different Internet backbones then connecting directly to the UK video server. This path of data, is a variable and the speed is therefore very unpredictable.

All our proxies are capable of supporting many steaming videos but the factor of what video service is being used is going to be a variable factor as well in terms of the quality/speed of the video stream.

Many video steaming websites let you use a lower bandwidth version. By providing you with a faux IP address, Hide My IP is letting you watch these streaming videos you normally could not see at your current location.

Do you see the contradictions here?

Hide My IP is not letting me do what I was led to believe it would and which you're still saying it does.

As an example, at this page http://www.s4c.co.uk/clic/e_level2.shtml?series_id=337403254 is a TV series that is available to a worldwide audience through the site's embedded Flash player and alternatively through a Windows Media Player stream at mms://media01.multistream.co.uk/streaming/s4c/BSM/cf99_110209.wmv.

I can watch that show with my usual connection and Korean IP. However, I cannot watch it through the Premium service UK IPs that you say are 'enhanced', 'highest speed', and 'capable of supporting many streaming videos'. I have tried this with a large number of different IPs, all of which have the address 78.129.175.##### or 87.117.203.#####.

You say Hide My IP lets me watch videos I can't normally see, but this is clearly not the case as is the reason for me starting this thread. In fact, the evidence is quite clear that, in my case at least, Hide My IP is doing the opposite of its purpose and preventing me from watching video streams that I normally can see at my current location.

When the Welch (England) video site was tested, we noticed 3 things:

1. You don't need our service to access their videos since most are available to anyone in the world
2. Why would a person complain about a service they don't need then and
3. When someone is unhappy about a service (they don't need) they usually write to staff@hide-my-ip.com and get a refund.

We suggest you do that and refer to this post.

You mean Welsh, a word which defines something as being of Wales, not England or any other country.



The FAQ page of the website clearly states: "Most S4C programmes are only available to view in the UK, unless worldwide rights have been cleared. The programme's Clic page will tell you what the licensed territory is."

I had a look through the Clic pages of all their programmes. Out of over 50 programmes, only three are available worldwide. It clearly states on the viewing page of 49 programmes: "UK only".


As my response to the first question states, and as my inability to watch "UK only" content proves, I DO need the service of a high-speed UK IP provider.


I'm not unhappy with the service at this point because we've not yet established whether it can be effective or not. I assumed that you were a member of staff and still hope to be able to resolve this rather than get a refund.

You say you found that most the site's programmes are available to anyone in the world.

How and in what sense did your 'testing' come to this conclusion?

It seems you've found a way of watching the video outside the UK and should therefore be able to inform me how to do so, which is what I started this topic for.

We were able to watch over a dozen shows without using Hide My IP and simply using our browsers with an American IP address. We didn't do anything special.