Freedome VPN not working for UK channels

2

Answers

  • Beaverman
    Beaverman Posts: 8 New Member

    I tried it, but it does not work. Tried both BBC abd ITV.

  • Fingerber
    Fingerber Posts: 8 Observer

    It seems to work on and off. Right now it works on my PC but not on my phone... tomorrow it might work on phone but not PC.... not sure why it is not working on all devices... I have a 7 device subscription...

  • PSNL
    PSNL Posts: 1 New Member

    Bbc iplayer works only after I've cleared the cache an restarted the vpn several times. Every time I check the server has actually changed.

    Too bad I still have several months of my subscription left

  • EddieGray
    EddieGray Posts: 4 New Member

    Found a possible workaround,

    after reading PSNLs post above i think I got it

    ----

    Flush DNS (might not be necessary)

    Open Browser

    Clear cache

    Open Freedome

    in browser open  https://www.dnsleaktest.com/

    f-secure seem to use 3 servers in UK - Leaseweb, SoftLayer and ANEXIA.

    Anexia is your friend so keep turning Freedome off and on while refreshing https://www.dnsleaktest.com/ until it shows Anexia as the ISP. Should work now (not tried 4od/Itv)

    Same with the mobile devices

  • Bane
    Bane Posts: 2 New Member

    How do you know which ISP is Anexia?

    Ta

  • Bane
    Bane Posts: 2 New Member

    I got it now - thank you and well done!

  • EddieGray
    EddieGray Posts: 4 New Member

    addenda; f-secure do what they do, Their business plan is not to help us get iplayer (look at the netfix policy) : just saying

  • EddieGray
    EddieGray Posts: 4 New Member

    "Their business plan is not to help us get iplayer "and never was so please don't start shouting at them. I'm gunna watch a film now Keep safe and well xx

  • jeffac
    jeffac Posts: 6 Observer

    same problem in Portugal. Anexia works but others don't. stuck with freedome until November as already paid for (refund not very likely) but will look to change then unless F secure can come up with an answer. probably a stupid question but if a VPN is supposed to mask your IP address but geo-blocked sites can see that you are using a VPN (or presuming so by telling you that you are outside of the UK), it isn't exactly doing what it is supposed to do is it?


    jeff

  • EddieGray
    EddieGray Posts: 4 New Member

    you are not stuck.

    as long as Anexia works I'll us freedome but we've been forewarned.

    I repeat "Their business plan is not to help us get iplayer " i renewed in feb and i'm gonna suck it up and ....change

    my business plan with fsecure is does iplayer work? (yes i pay a licence)

    so you are not stuck just change the vpn

  • jeffac
    jeffac Posts: 6 Observer

    i also pay for a TV licence but that is not the issue. Fsecure may not have a business plan specifically to allow access to iPlayer but according to their Freedome advertising, they obviously plan to allow access to geo-blocking sites of which iPlayer is but one (along with the other media providers in the UK and other countries). in this, they are obviously struggling especially as i do not see a way to choose Anexia but just have to take pot luck and keep refreshing until i land lucky and get connected to it. i have better things to do with my time than to keep refreshing until i land lucky. how long until Anexia is blocked?

    i fully intend giving Fsecure a reasonable amount of time to solve this problem but if that does not happen then i will change my VPN. not just because i cannot watch iPlayer or catch up TV on other UK channels (i don't actually do that very often) but because i want a product that i can trust to deliver what it promises in a way that i can use it easily. if it does not do what it says on the tin, what else is it not doing that it promises? i am not that technically adept as to know what any Fsecure product is doing at any given time and whether it is doing that effectively but if one part of the package is having problems then i lose faith in not just that part of that product but the package as a whole unless it is resolved quickly and effectively. that lack of faith only leads to one thing and that is i change my service provider and they lose the money which is what a lot of other people will also do

    my loss of faith is not helped by a lack of any real input from Fsecure on this issue although i am sure they monitor these forums. also, they have know about this problem for a while (this thread started on 18th March) but when i contacted then last weekend, they just ran through the same stuff posted by Sethu on 26th March which "worked" for me at the time probably because i landed on Anexia, not because of anything else being done.

    jeff

  • Beaverman
    Beaverman Posts: 8 New Member

    Anexia does not work today. I tried it several times. Cleared the cache and all. Still no luck.

  • User_93183
    User_93183 Posts: 2 New Member

    Still no comment from F-secure after all this mess...? cant even get in contact with support?? my G, this is so bad, dont even know where to start ....

  • Beaverman
    Beaverman Posts: 8 New Member

    Yesterday evening it used SoftLayer, I could watch BBC player after clearing the cache, but neither ITV nor C4 worked. I din't bother to try UKTV.

    I tried quite a few time switching it on and off, but to no avail.

  • GG1
    GG1 Posts: 9 New Member

    This company is Finnish origin, but people think the support is Finnish.


    When I look at the names from support when they answer you, and it's no so often.


    My thoughts is, the support is somewhere in India and solutions of problems is less common day after day.

  • JulianSweden20
    JulianSweden20 Posts: 1 New Member

    My Freedome no longer works in Sweden - it takes 15-20 attempts to hook up to the BBC and then sometimes works.

    I'm on a Mac - so no windows fixes please- if all else fails I'll find another VPN service - pity. The problem seems to be you cannot specify another server in the UK with Freedome - is it not possible too switch the server?

  • User_93183
    User_93183 Posts: 2 New Member

    How can a free VPN addon like Urban VPN get access to bbc iplayer when this one you pay for can not??? lousy lousy service... =(

  • Mrs_Gfin
    Mrs_Gfin Posts: 1 New Member

    BBC app was working yesterday (Finland), no luck today. This is totally unacceptable as it is a paid service. My iOS is so old that ITV hub doesn't work anymore, but that I can watch if I turn VPN off. Needless to say I will not be renewing my contract after this ☹️ Why is F-secure not responding / replying to these questions?

  • Eddie_gray1966
    Eddie_gray1966 Posts: 3 New Member

    Brave browser says 39 blocked (can't even log on until ....i say yes to all.) I reckon fsecure is now gone,, ffox says the same,


  • Eddie_gray1966
    Eddie_gray1966 Posts: 3 New Member

    Brave browser says 39 blocked (can't even log on until ....i say yes to all.) I reckon fsecure is now gone,, ffox says the same,


  • Eddie_gray1966
    Eddie_gray1966 Posts: 3 New Member

    i said in a earlier post that i would suck it up and am doing it but jeez oh my : I am now saying no to fsecure, F‑Secure SAFE made my laptop chug

    very slowly (i repeat iplayer is not their business model ) i've just come to the conclusion that it not that good ..

  • Watcher
    Watcher Posts: 1 New Member

    As you know you must have an account to watch iPlayer. I changed the fake British zip code in my iPlayer account and aftter that it worked ok.

    Who knows how long? You can find easily lots of zip codes e. g in hotel addresses or wherever. I am not from England.

  • joeNZjoeNZjoeUK
    joeNZjoeNZjoeUK Posts: 5 New Member

    The problem appears to be that almost all UK IP addresses available to Freedome have been blocked by the UK terrestrial stations (BBC, ITV and C4).

    There are a small number of addresses that do work but it can take a lot of connecting/disconnecting to find one.

    F-Secure seem unmotivated/unable to fix so only alternative seems to be to switch VPN providers.

  • joeNZjoeNZjoeUK
    joeNZjoeNZjoeUK Posts: 5 New Member

    To save you a little time - it is NOT enough to find an IP address from Anexia. Some of those are also blocked.

  • Fingerber
    Fingerber Posts: 8 Observer

    I have now gotten a new provider... disappointing and annoying, as I was paid up with Freedome until next year!

    joeNZjoeNZjoeUK is correct and here’s some more info, which might be of use to those who are still persevering with Freedome. Through trial and error, it seems that if you connect and manage to get Anexia as the server:

    Anexia 217.146.29.XX (where XX is 68-78, for example) WORKED

    Anexia 188.172.198.44 did not work

    However, it requires a lot of turning it on/off to get one that works, and you cannot always manage it.

    Good luck!

  • Sethu
    Sethu Posts: 687 Forum Champion

    Thank you all for sharing your experience with Freedome VPN,

    BBC and Some UK streaming websites have started to block VPN users, which our F-Secure Freedome was also affected. We have limited possibilities to prevent external 3rd party from blocking us. There are multiple ways how such blocking can be done. For instance, should someone want to block connections coming from our network addresses in their firewall, they are completely free to do so, and they do not need our permission to do that.

    We expect customers to respect the terms of third-party services that they access via our services. The Terms of Service for F-Secure Freedome can be found here: https://www.f-secure.com/en/web/legal_global/terms/freedome

    You could also contact BBC for possible change to their VPN blocking policy.

    Reference to BBC Help in regards to VPN blocking is available here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help/questions/playback-issues/outside-uk-message.

    Our primary aim is for Freedome application to provide a safe and private access to the Internet, regardless of where you connect from. It protects against “man-in-the-middle” attacks and securely encrypts your connection. Freedome also blocks trackers, prevents access to malicious web sites and gives you the ability to select virtual locations around the world.

    As users start using more public WiFi networks, they are obviously more open to attacks. We want to protect our users by providing a solution to secure these connections. A Wifi network may be easily hacked and may provide access to hackers to steal your data and snoop what you're doing online. With Freedome, you are protected from these scenarios.

  • joeNZjoeNZjoeUK
    joeNZjoeNZjoeUK Posts: 5 New Member

    This comment is disingenuous.

    Other VPN services do make an effort to support the use case under discussion (ie there are things that can be done by Freedome should it wish to do so such as routinely acquiring new IP address ranges). This is evidenced by people successfully switching to other VPN providers to meet their needs.

    Reading between the lines, Freedome appears to be shifting its business model away from the requirements of the users complaining on this thread. Which is fair enough I guess except they didn't flag this up before signing people up for extended subscriptions.

  • jeffac
    jeffac Posts: 6 Observer

    i think that Freedome needs to change the way they describe their product on the website They state that Freedome allows you to "watch some TV programmes abroad" - maybe this should say "watch some TV programmes abroad unless you happen to want to watch UK TV in which case try a VPN that actually works rather than waste your money on a VPN that won't let you do that.

    i was unaware that when i signed up to Freedome that they were actually unable to continue to provide a service long term. they did not seem overly bothered by the BBC (or other UK TV providers) terms of access and use whilst their servers were unrecognised by the UK TV providers but now they have been "rumbled" they seem unwilling to change their servers to enable the service to continue. is this really because they have respect for the UK TV providers policies or because they do not want to spend the money and time necessary to change their server addresses? i suspect the latter is the most likely.

    i have changed my VPN to a provider that works perfectly so am no longer interested in Freedome. at the end of my subscription (November) i will not be renewing my F-Secure Total subscription as i have lost faith in the company and its products. i still hold the view that if they cannot provide a VPN that works as described, how do i know that the rest of their products are working? do i have to wait until my bank account is hacked to find out that they are not actually providing the service they claim? i guess i will be in the minority in changing my security provider so F-Secure will not give a damn but i will feel better for not giving them my hard earned money for a product that i cannot be confident in.

  • fotoflex
    fotoflex Posts: 3 Observer

    I had a free 1-year subscription, which I used in Holland to watch te BBC.

    It worked so good, it was on constantly and I only had to turn it off when

    I wanted to watch Dutch tv.

    So, when the subcription ended on January the 30th, I was happy to continue

    with this VPN.

    And instantly, happiness ended.

    No more BBC, which was painful, because that was the sole purpose for paying quite a lot of money.

    Request for advice and complaints to Freedome were met with "Thank you for your feedback. We will process your feedback and take it into account when developing Freedome further."

    Which is poor customer service and not what I paid for, nor what was promised.

    An unreliable work-around I developed is, that I open with Windscribe and then Iplayer in the browser.

    When that is running, I open Freedome, which takes awhile.

    About half-way, I turn off windscribe and if I'm lucky, the two programs match and I can leave Freedome on.

    It takes some tries and will stop working unexpectedly, so I download what I want to watch.

    But I'll switch to Windscribe when this subscription has run its course.

  • Mary_99
    Mary_99 Posts: 2 New Member

    Freedome no longer f***ing works with BBC iPlayer. Your f***ing troubleshooting steps are a f***ing joke. You're an idiot Sethu 🖕.

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