[DEVELOPING STORY]
Earlier this week we reported that geo-unblocking service UnoTelly has issued new “Terms Of Service”, which informs users that the VPN and DNS scrambling services should be used for no reason other than maintaining privacy. Many users in South Africa however, have used the service to access the US version of Netflix, where content is plentiful when compared to the local offering – which, technically speaking, is against UnoTelly’s new Ts and Cs.
On the other side of the streaming coin, Netflix has in the past promised to crack down on geo-unblocking and Virtual Private Network (VPN) users, essentially cutting them off from accessing a specific region if they don’t live in it.
The two seem to have come together for many South African UnoTelly users, or Netflix has made good on its promise locally, but plenty of UnoTelly subscribers in South Africa complained on Thursday evening that the US version of Netflix has stopped working all together.
…And there goes my US Netflix. :(
So it’s back to Netflix South Africa but can still get HuluPlus so not all is… https://t.co/hBRfg5rgI0— Justin de Reuck (@JustindeReuck) March 3, 2016
Netflix US game over for South Africa… If it detects an unblocker/proxy it.wont play
— Roger Hislop (@d0dja) March 3, 2016
Farewell @Netflix and @Unotelly. It’s been real. You remind me of the music industry in the early 00s. Remember what happened there?
— Amanda Sevasti (@AmandaSevasti) March 3, 2016
Yep so like, no more international Netflix for me
— Nick de Bruyne (@NickdeBruyne) March 3, 2016
@NickdeBruyne dead pic.twitter.com/6gghhnzLwX
— AfricanTimeZA (@AfricanTimeZA) March 3, 2016
When certain users try to access the service, they receive a message stating “You seem to be using an unblocker or proxy. Please turn off any of these services and try again”. The issues seems to be widespread across multiple device, with reports that it occurs on Xbox One, the website and through the mobile app.
When Netflix first announced plans to start blocking IP addresses of VPN services and users, UnoTelly came out and said that its user base need not worry. “We are confident that we can continue to deliver quality service to our loyal and supportive users”, said UnoTelly representative Kostas Polichronos at the time.
There has also been reports that another US streaming service, Hulu, has been blocked as well.
We have reached out to UnoTelly for comment.