IronSocket SmartDNS Review

IronSocket has a SmartDNS service that will help you unblock geographically restricted content in the US, UK, France, Australia, and many other countries.  Their service will let you watch some of the most popular TV series, original content, and movies from channels like Hulu Plus, Netflix US, BBC iPlayer, Zattoo, Anime Digital Network, Lifetime, HGTV, and over 80+ others from anywhere.  You will have access to some of the best entertainment in the world from anywhere. The IronSocket SmartDNS service works invisibly behind the scenes so you will not observe any sluggish connection speeds when streaming media from content providers like Amazon Prime Instant Video. IronSokcet review

IronSocket Free Trial

Although IronSocket does not have a free trial of their SmartDNS, they do have a 7 day money back guarantee so that you can fully test their service.  This is a full 100% money-back guarantee with no limitations on usage or connections.  So feel free to fully test their SmartDNS service.  Use it to watch some of your favorite HD movies or a live sporting event that you just can not miss.  You should fully test their complete service during this guarantee period to see that it is robust enough for anything that you might want to use it for. As this is a guarantee and not a free trial, you must sign up for one of their paid packages.  IronSocket SmartDNS is included with all paid VPN subscriptions.  However, they do not offer it as a stand alone package.  They have one of the better guarantees of the SmartDNS providers that we have reviewed so put it through its paces during the guarantee period to see if it can satisfy all of your needs.

If you decide that the service is not right for your purposes or are unhappy with it for any reason during the guarantee period, you can request a full refund.   You should request a refund of your subscription fee within 7 days of subscribing to their VPN services (as confirmed by their payment records) and you must have purchased your subscription using PayPal and/or a credit card payment processing service.  If you meet these 2 requirements, you will receive a full refund of your purchase price.  All requests for refunds mus be submitted by email to billing@ironsocket.com within the 7 days of your original order.  No refunds will be granted after that period.  Refunds are processed within 24 hours of a valid refund request and confirmed by email at the time the refund is processed. It could take up to 30 days for any refund amount to appear in your account depending on your bankcard or payment processor.

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Pricing and Special Offers

Like many providers we have reviewed, IronSocket offers both Smart DNS and VPN services. This review will mainly focus on their SmartDNS  service.  I will briefly mention that the difference between a Smart DNS service and a VPN is one word, encryption.  Simply put, VPN encrypts all of the data.  If online privacy is important to you, then you can visit our VPN Fan sister site to learn more.  If your goal is simply to access geo-blocked websites in other countries,  then Smart DNS is the right choice.

As I stated previously, IronSocket does not have a stand alone SmartDNS service. It is included free with their VPN packages.  They offer package discounts that vary based on the length of the sign up term.  The terms include 1 month, 6 month,  and 12 month plans.  The pricing starts at $6.99 for a 1 month plan with increasing discounts on longer term plans.  You can enjoy a full 12 months of their complete service for $49.95.  That works out to just $4.16 a month.   If you sign up for their 12 month plan, their service is an even better value.

IronSocket SmartDNS Pricing

They have a a few different types of payment options:  Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, PayPal and Bitcoin.

You can cancel you subscription anytime that you want.  The procedure is really simple.  To cancel your subscription follow these steps:

  1. Login to the member’s area and click “View Details” for your Active Subscription.
  2. On the resultant page Provide the reason for cancellation
  3. Select the type of cancellation:  “Immediate” or “End of Billing Period”
  4. Find the “Request Cancellation” button at the bottom of the page and click it.

If you are not within the 7 Day Trial Period, you will not receive a refund.  Additionally, if you subscribed using automatic PayPal payments, you will need to cancel that with them.

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How Does IronSocket Work?

It really does not matter if you are talking about IronSocket SmartDNS or another Smart DNS service,  it helps to know something about how the process works. These services primarily help to remove the geographic restrictions placed on content by streaming media providers .   They accomplish this by sending data (an IP address) to the site that you want to unblock that says you are located in a region or country that is not restricted.  This is a simplified version of the process but it gives you the main concept.  This allows you to enjoy different content that may not be available in your country from streaming media providers such as Netflix, Hulu, Eurosport, and BBC iPlayer as well as many others.   You can watch TV series, movies, original programs, and live events that you may otherwise not be able to see from your current location.  As an added bonus, you can see them from anywhere in the world.  As I briefly mentioned above, this  differs from a VPN which adds privacy protection through encryption.  The encryption used by a VPN can slow down your connection and generally costs more.  This makes Smart DNS a better choice for anyone who does not need the online privacy and anonymity of a VPN connection.

Here’s an explanation of how the SmartDNS works taken directly from the IronSocket website.

DNS Proxy (also known as SmartDNS) is an innovative method to access geo-restricted websites like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go, and others. It is not uncommon for websites to have restricted access, either for reasons of censorship, to prevent potential fraud, etc. DNS Proxy servers automatically redirect your connection through our proxy network whenever you access any one of the websites/services which we support through our DNS Proxy Services.

Unlike VPN, DNS proxy does not encrypt your connection therefore; you experience the exact same connection speed that you get from your ISP.

In a minute, I will tell you about the variety of devices supported by the IronSocket SmartDNS service.  First, I want to mention that they have set up guides and useful tips for using these devices with their service.  Once you sign up for one of their plans, they will send you a verification email containing your IronSocket Username and Password welcoming you to their service.  Following the email instructions and logging into their site will allow you to access popular sites like Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and Pandora from anywhere in the world.

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Supported Devices

IronSocket SmartDNS supports a wide range of devices: PC, Mac, tablets, smartphones, game consoles, and Smart TVS.  They have a device setup page with guides and tips for using their service on every device that they support.  Their setup page is easy to get to.  Just click “Setup” in the main menu of the site.  This page displays the devices in five separate categories:  computers, mobile devices,  home media devices,  gaming consoles, and routers.  It is well organized and easy to navigate which makes finding the guide you are looking for a lot faster.  Their guides are well written and many are graphically illustrated to aid in configuring your device with their SmartDNS service.  Likely, if you have a device that allows DNS setup, they can support it.  Also, their service allows you to use three SmartDNS device connections and three VPN connections simultaneously with a single account. IronSocket SmartDNS DevicesHere’s a list of supported devices:

  • Computer – Mac OSX, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows XP, Windows Vista
  • Mobile – iPad, iPhone, iPod, Android
  • Gaming – Sony PlayStation 3, Sony Playstation 4, Sony PS Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U
  • Home – Samsung Smart TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, LG Smart TV, LG Blu-ray Player, Sony Internet TV, Sony Blu-ray Player, Boxee Box, Roku
  • Router – Airport Extreme, Belkin, DD-WRT, D-Link, Linksys, Netgear, Tomato, TP-Link Router, pfSense, General router help

As you can see they have support for routers using DD-WRT custom firmware.  As always, the key is being able to configure the DNS settings for whatever device you want to access streaming media with.  Making the change on your router can help you use the service with all the devices connected to it.   You can have three devices connected simultaneously to one account login.  This means with only one account, you could be watching an NBA game on your laptop, your child could be watching a movie on iPad, and another family member could be watching Netflix on Roku at the same time.

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Channel Line-Up

What does IronSocket offer you?  They have over 80+ channels.  The channel page on their site has a complete list of all the channels that they unblock.  You can sort them by country so that you can more easily see the channels they support.  They also let you search for a specific channel to see if they stream it.  I like the way their channel page works.  It is simple to use and shows graphical results with links to all channels.  The IronSocket SmartDNS channel page is accessed by clicking on the “Channel Guide” link found at the bottom of all IronSocket website pages.  All of the channels are linked to their respective websites.

IronSocket SmartDNS Channels

Here’s a list of channels available through IronSocket SmartDNS:

Channels in Australia – ABC, ABC iview, Ten Play, Channel 11, Big Bash League, SBS

Channels in Brazil – Netflix

Channels in Canada – Netflix, Discovery Canada, CTV, Big Brother Canada, ICI TOU.tv, The Loop, CBC Player, Global TV

Channels in Egypt – beIN Sports MENA

Channels in France – Netflix, My TF1, Eurosport, Canal +, Arte, Rdio, France TV Pluzz, WAT TV, D8, NRJ 12, NT1, TMC, L’Equipe 21, TFOU, D17, HD1, Anime Digital Network, Cherie 25, 6Play, beIN Sports France

Channels in Germany – Netflix, RTL Now, ZDF, ARD, Das Erste, Magine TV, Alles Kino, VOX NOW, Bild, MDR, NRL, Sportschau

Channels in Hong Kong – myTV TVB, GOTV TVB, Now HK

Channels in Ireland – Netflix, RTE

Channels in Japan – Hulu Japan, GyaO!

Channels in Netherlands – Netflix, NPO

Channels in New Zealand – PremierLeaguePass, TVNZ

Channels in Switzerland – Zattoo, SRF Player

Channels in UK – Netflix, EuroSport UK, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport, Sky Sports, Sky Go, BT Sport, ITV, Discovery UK, Channel 4, Channel 5, NOW TV, Wauki.tv, Eurosport Player, VidZone, CBBC, Blinkbox, Blinkbox Music, Absolute Radio, BBC iPlayer Radio, Comedy Central UK

Channels in US – Hulu, Hulu Plus, Netflix, Yahoo Sport, Yahoo TV, Amazon Instant Video, Amazon Prime Instant Video, ESPN, AOL On, Pandora, MLB, Bloomberg, ABC News, NBA Game Time, NBA League Pass, CBS Sports, Spotify, Food Network, Disney XD, Sky Sports, NatGeo, MTV, CBS, Discovery, beIN Sports TV, Comedy Central US, NFL, NHL, PBS, ABC, TV.com, iHeart Radio, PBS Kids, NBC, Crunchyroll, MLS Soccer, HBO Go, VEVO, Songza, History Channel, AMC, South Park Studios, Drama Fever, Marvel, Fox, Crackle, BET, Bravo TV, Radio.com, Vudu, Flixster, Disney Junior, Lifetime, USA Network, CWTV, Syfy, A&E TV, Spike TV, Beats Music, ulive, Slacker, ABC Family, Funimation, Showtime, Showtime Anytime, M-GO, OnDemandKorea, Fandor, Oxygen, Smithsonian Channel, Logo TV, TV Land, Tennis Channel, Epix HD, BYUtv, CinemaNow US, MAX GO, WB TV Media to Go, Turntable, Disney Channel, Feel, TVPlayer, KDrama, Teen Nick, American Heroes Channel, Universal Sports, NBC Sports, Fox Sports Go, Sprout, CMT, Star Trek, CNBC, Grooveshark, Adult Swim, FX Networks, Al Jazeera America, Nick Videos, Nick Jr., Sundance TV, TruTV, TBS, HGTV, Starz, Cartoon Network, TNT Drama, Fox Soccer 2 Go, Rhapsody, DishWorld, Disney Movies Anywhere

Their SmartDNS service will let you watch channel content not in your geographical region or country.  Some premium channels such as  Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Video, and others will still require a paid subscription fee to access their content.

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IronSocket SmartDNS  Speed Test

So, what can you expect from a service like IronSocket SmartDNS?   As I mentioned earlier the difference between a Smart DNS service and a VPN service is data encryption.  Smart DNS is an excellent choice if you want to unblock access to TV series, movies, and original content or live events that are geographically restricted by a streaming media provider.  For example, if you have a subscription and want to watch Netflix (US) or Amazon Prime Instant Video content from outside the United States then SmartDNS should be your first choice.  The same is true for watching BBC iPlayer or Now TV from outside the UK and many other channels.  If you need the extra layer of privacy protection offered by encrypting your connection then I would suggest you consider using their VPN service.  As I mentioned before, encrypting your data can slow down your connection and generally cost more.  So if all you want to do is watch your favorite blocked streaming media content, then use their SmartDNS feature to access it and disconnect from the VPN.  You will be happier with the results.  You can visit our VPN Fan site to learn more.  Put simply,  Smart DNS is a better choice if privacy is not a worry that you have.  It will help you unblock sites in other countries without the speed loss associated with using their VPN service.  I did not experience any speed loss using the IronSocket SmartDNS service.

IronSocket SmartDNS Review : Conclusion

IronSocket offers a free SmartDNS service with all paid subscriptions.  Because it works transparently, you will not observe any noticeable difference in connection speed .  Thus, the audio fidelity of the music you listen to or the visual acuity of HD movies that you watch will be unaffected by using their service. Their SmartDNS will grant you access to geo-blocked content from over 80+ streaming media providers in the US, UK, and many other countries.  What you will notice is that you have access to a greater library of media content to choose from and that you can listen to popular music and watch your favorite shows from channels like Hulu Plus, Netflix US, Netflix UK, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Instant Video, and over 80+ others from almost anywhere in the world.  IronSocket has support for a large variety of different streaming media devices including PC, Mac, smartphones, game consoles, tablets, smart TVs and routers.  Additionally, they have excellent manual setup guides for all of the devices that they support.  They give you access to a large library of channels for a good price which makes them an excellent value.  Especially for those who sign up for 12 months of service.  I did not have any problems with IronSocket SmartDNS and would use it again.

As with any Smart DNS service I suggest you try out their SmartDNS for yourself. Sign up for one of their plans to take advantage of their 7 day guarantee and try out their service.  I suggest you watch HD content from channels in different areas of the world like Netflix in the US and BBC iPlayer in the UK.  Also, find a live event that you want to watch and stream it while you are testing out their service.  If you determine that their service fits your needs and decide to keep it, you will have unlimited VPN and SmartDNS access from just $4.16 a month.

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