Unblock-Us Review

We have reviewed all the major Smart DNS services and Unblock-Us is the best.  Their SmartDNS will help you unblock geo-restricted content in the US, UK , Brazil, Germany, Finland, Australia and 15+ other countries. Their service will help you unblock 180+ channels.  This includes 21 Netflix regions, Hulu Plus, BBC iPlayer, MLS, The Premier League, and many others.

Unblock Us review

Spend a couple minutes on their channels page and you’ll see just how much effort they put into the service.  By using their service, you will be able to enjoy many of the most popular TV series, original content, and movies from numerous streaming media providers.  Much of this content would otherwise have been blocked to you.  Since their service runs transparently, you will not notice any loss in internet connection speed while using it.

Read through our review and test it for yourself.  You can try it for free and let us know what you think.  We use Unblock-Us to watch live events around the world.  The service is nothing short of a game changer for those who want to access popular US content like Netflix and Hulu from abroad.

Unblock-Us 7 Day Free Trial

The Unblock Us team understands that you will want to test their Smart DNS service for yourself.  Therefore they are offering everyone a 7 day free trial of their service.  To sign up for their free trial, all you need to do is enter your email address, and click “Start Trial”.  Then simply follow their guide to set up your computer for the service.  You can easily switch between Netflix regions.  It is as simple as that.  We recommend that you fully test their service during the free trial to assure that it meets all of your needs.  Try testing multiple Netflix regions, stream HD movies, listen to music, and enjoy a live sporting event.

Unblock-Us Free Trial

Since no credit information is required to create the account, no cancellation is necessary.  It simply expires after the free trial ends.  You can sign up for a premium account anytime during or after the trial period.  Let’s take a look at their pricing.

Pricing and Special Offers

Unblock-Us pricing is simple.  They offer their Smart DNS on monthly or annual terms.  Signing up for a year of service is just $49.90 and will save you $10.  This is like getting two months free.  If you enjoy Unblock-Us and want to continue as a member, you can subscribe for $4.99 a month or if you sign up for the year term the price is just 4.16 a month.  The price includes unlimited usage of their Smart DNS and a free Smart VPN account. The Smart VPN will help you use their service on mobile devices in places like hotels and university campuses.

unblock-us-pricing

As you can see above, Unblock Us accepts credit card and PayPal.  Payments recur on a monthly or annual basis depending on which subscription plan you select.  You can cancel anytime by logging into your account and clicking the “cancel subscription” link.  Some services make it hard to cancel your subscription but Unblock-Us makes it easy to cancel if necessary with the option to reactivate your account in the future.  You can also update your payment details by logging into their site.

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What is Smart DNS and How Does Unblock-Us Work?

Whether we’re talking about Unblock-Us or another Smart DNS service it helps to understand what SmartDNS is and how it works.  The goal is to help you access regionally blocked sites like Netflix, Hulu and BBC iPlayer from anywhere in the world without impacting the speed of your Internet connection.  That differs from a VPN which adds privacy protection through encryption but in turn slows down your connection.

Unblock-Us does a great job of explaining how their service works so let me share a short explanation from their site:

Every computer or other Internet-enabled device has an address. It’s made up of numbers, like a street address. Our solution is brilliantly simple. We give you an address where the content you want is available. It’s like moving your computer or other device without actually moving it.

The Unblock-Us site supports a variety of devices and includes a nice list of guides for each.  We will discuss these more in a moment.  For now we want to quickly share how easy it is to get started.  Once you sign up for the free trial you simply change your DNS settings to those provided by Unblock-Us.  From there you’ll have access to channels like Netflix and BBC iPlayer.

Unblock-Us does not log or analyze the data passing through their servers.  We mention that for those who want to ensure that their privacy remains intact while using the service.

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Unblock-Us Easy Setup App

Unblock Us offers a Windows client along with mobile apps for iOS and Android that automate the set up process.  This is especially useful for those who might not have as much technical knowledge.  If you use the app, you will not need to enter the DNS servers for these devices.  It will also monitor your registered IP address and automatically inform their system of changes.

Supported Devices

This is where things get really exciting.  You can use Unblock-Us to access content on a wide range of devices.  The service isn’t just for Windows or Mac.  It extends out to your phone, tablet, game console, Smart TV and media player.  If that doesn’t cover a device in your home you can also set up a router to send all your traffic through the service and watch on every device.

Unblock-Us device set up

Here’s a list of supported devices:

  • Computer – Mac OS X, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP
  • Game Console – Playstation 4, Playstation 3, XBOX One, XBOX 360, PS Vita, Wii, Wii U
  • Smart TV – Sony TV and players, Panasonic VIERA, Samsung TV and players, LG Smart TV
  • Media Player – Apple TV, Roku, Google TV, Boxee Box, WD TV Live devices
  • Phone & Tablet – iPhone, iPod, iPad, Android, Amazon Kindle
  • Router – Airport Extreme, Linksys / Cisco, D-Link, Netgear, Bell, 2Wire, Siemens, Actiontec, TP-Link, Generic(not listed)

Unblock-Us includes excellent setup guides for every device listed above.  These guides have fully illustrated step-by-step instructions to make it easier to configure your device.  If you have a device outside of the list you can follow their instructions to try and set it up as well.  The key is being able to change the DNS settings on your device.  If you run into an old device that runs through your network but doesn’t have the ability to set the DNS, you can run it through your router.  Making the changes on your router will allow you to use their service on all the devices connected to it.

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Channel Line-Up

Unblock-Us has one of the best line-up of channels and live events we have ever seen.  Their channel page is very helpful in finding out what channels events like NFL or Premier League games are on.  It also gives you a full list of video on demand, TV, kids, sports and music channels that they support.  They also have guides to help you sign up for any paid services like NFL Gamepass, Premier League Pass, and many others.

Unblock-Us channel list

Here’s a list of channels available through Unblock-Us:

  • Live events – vary according to the time of year.  When writing the review I noticed an F1 race, tennis tournament, WWE event, NBA, NHL, NFL and English Premier League.
  • Video on Demand – Netflix, Hulu and Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, HBO Nordic, HBO GO, Vudu, Crackle, Now TV, M-Go, Epix HD, MaxGo, Starz, CinemaNow, Warner Instant Archive, Blockbuster Now, Fandor, Blinkbox, Funimation, Dramafever, Soompi TV (KDrama)
  • TV – BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, TV Player, Channel 4 – 4oD, Channel 5, Sky Go, MSN UK, Zattoo, Sling TV, ABC, ABC Family, ABC News, CBS All Access, CBS, Big Brother USA, Utopia, PBS, FOX, NBC, CNBC, Food Network, Univision.com, Ulive, USA Network, HGTV, TBS, TruTV, Adultswim, TNT Drama, TCM, DishWorld, Showtime Anytime, SHO.com, AMC.com, FX, A&E, Syfy, Sundance TV, Bravo, Smithsonian, Discovery US, VEVO, Startrek.com, National Geographic, The CW, Logo TV, SouthPark Studios, Comedy Central, BYUtv, Spike TV, CTV, Big Brother Canada, Slice.ca, RTE.ie, TV3ie, Aertv.ie, TVNZ, SBS Australia, ABC iView, Ten.com.au, Eleven.com.au, Arte, ZDF.de, ARD.de, DR.dk, TV2 DK, TF1 France, 6 Play, France 1, France 2, France 3, France 4, France 5, Pluzz France, Canal Play
  • Kids – Disney Movies Anywhere, The Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, Marvel.com, Sesame Go
  • Sports – NHL GameCenter Live, NFL GamePass, NFL Now, MLB, NBA, WWE Network, MLS – Major League Soccer, Watch AFL, NRL, Premier League Pass, Star Sports, BBC Sport, BT Sports, beIN Sports, ESPN, Fox Sports Go, Fox Soccer 2 Go, NBC Sports, NBC Sports Live Extra, Sportsnet World Now, Univision Deportes, Universal Sports, CBS Sports Radio, Sky Sports, Eurosport Player UK, Eurosport UK, Willow UK, USopen.org, Tennis Channel, Sportschau.de
  • Music – Pandora, Spotify, Rdio, BBC iPlayer Radio, Songza, iHeart Radio, Slacker, Rhapsody, Absoluteradio.co.uk, MTV, VEVO, Radio.com

Unblock-Us will help you access all the channels listed above from anywhere in the world.  You will still need a paid subscription for many services like Netflix and Hulu Plus.  Others will require a cable or satellite subscription.  As you can see in the image above, Unblock-Us channel information includes the supported devices, the regions where the channel is unblocked, whether or not you need a subscription, and how to pay for it.  The channels also provide extra notes that tell you what type of subscription you need, whether the channel has an app and how to download it, and any special circumstances necessary to access it.  They also offer guides to help you get started for subscriptions like NHL GameCenter Live.

They have one of the most comprehensive and up to date support pages in the SmartDNS space.  They offer solutions for channel connection issues, setup problems, streaming live events, device connection challenges, and about every other concern that customers may have.  Additionally, their customer service is courteous, prompt and solution oriented.

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Unblock Us Speed Test

As I mentioned earlier the difference between a Smart DNS service and VPN is encryption.  A VPN helps protect your online privacy and anonymity by encrypting your data.  In doing so it slows down your connection.  You can visit our VPN Fan site to learn more.  A SmartDNS service is different.  It will help you unblock sites in other countries without the need for encryption.  Doing so without the speed loss associated with using a VPN service.  We do not experience any speed loss using Unblock-Us.

Unblock-Us Review : Conclusion

Unblock-Us has everything we look for in a Smart DNS service.  They have a large selection of channels and support a wide range of devices.  Like most services the set up involves changing your DNS settings.  While the process is simple we appreciate that the Unblock-Us team has easy to follow guides for every device listed on the site.  That includes Windows, Mac, game consoles, Smart TVs, media players, mobile phones, tablets and even routers.

They have one of the best channel selections and keep it up to date with the latest live events that you might want to watch.  Unblock Us gives you the information that you need to view upcoming live events.  Find the channels that are streaming it, devices you can watch on, and other notes to help you enjoy the event.  They provide guides to help you watch your favorite sporting events even if they are blacked-out or geo-blocked from your current location.

As with any Smart DNS service I suggest you try out Unblock-Us for yourself.  Sign up for their 7 day free trial and give the service a good test.  Connect to channels in different countries.  Switch between Netflix regions if you’re a subscriber.  Watch a live event.  Do all the things you want to with the service.  The trial gives you full access so go wild.  When the trial ends you can continue using Unblock-Us from just $4.16 a month.

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