# Internet Blocking of Mexican visitors



## JgmLeonard (Nov 4, 2010)

In Mexico you might be having trouble visiting certain Internet web sites in the USA like Netflix, iTunes, or auction sites. This could be done to protect intellectual property rights (stealing of audiovisual materials or images) or simply because your Mexican internet service provider doesn’t like competition (Skype free international phone calls) Search “Internet Censorship” at Wikipedia discussion on this. See a discussion on “Skype blocking in Mexico” by searching Google.

*How do websites know that I’m located in Mexico?*

Everyone connected to the internet has a unique number assigned to them by the Internet service provider. This is the company who supplies you your connection to the internet. And every web site also has a unique number as they too are connected to the internet. 

This is called the Internet Protocol (IP) address. It looks like a telephone number. For example, you can reach the Expat Forum by typing their domain name like this "www*expatforum*com" or just type in the IP address like this “74*86*170*117” in the browser address box. (Careful. Do not bookmark an IP address because, if the ExPat Forum should use a different hosting company the IP address might change, but the domain name will stay the same.)

If you are curious to find out what your current IP address is visit this site “en*utrace*de" (your internet service provider may change your IP from time to time). This site not only displays your IP address but looks up where you are located.

*How do websites block Mexican visitors?* 

Every time that you visit a web page your internet service provider sends your IP number to the server hosting the web page. For example, when you login to Netflix with your USA account from Mexico, it is possible for Netflix to look up your IP address and block access to movies if you are not also located in the USA. (Actually, any website could block you from seeing their web pages if you are not connecting from one of their “allowed” locations.) It is also possible that your local Mexican Internet service provider might be blocking, for example Skype, so that you can’t make free long distance calls with Skype.

*What’s the solution to prevent IP blocking?*

You could sign up for another Netflix account for Mexico. 

Or you could use another company (see “proxy server” in Wikipedia search Google for “How to Unblock Skype”.

Or you could pay a company like HideMyAss (a proxy server company) about $6 per month. They will connect to Netflix by sending Netflix (and other USA based websites that are blocking Mexican visitors) their USA IP address instead of your Mexican located IP address. 
Netflix will think you are in the USA and you can watch everything using your USA Netflix account. Netflix cannot find out that this is happening and it is perfectly legal.

*Feedback*

I’d like to hear from others how they have solved this problem and their experience with proxy servers or anonymous browsing.

_Joe in Zapopan, Mexico_

* Replace with a period


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## jasavak (Nov 22, 2011)

I remember having trouble accessing my Etrade account . I received a block message and had to make calls to verify information .


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## pappabee (Jun 22, 2010)

JgmLeonard said:


> In Mexico you might be having trouble visiting certain Internet web sites in the USA like Netflix, iTunes, or auction sites. This could be done to protect intellectual property rights (stealing of audiovisual materials or images) or simply because your Mexican internet service provider doesn’t like competition (Skype free international phone calls) Search “Internet Censorship” at Wikipedia discussion on this. See a discussion on “Skype blocking in Mexico” by searching Google.
> 
> *How do websites know that I’m located in Mexico?*
> 
> ...


First of all your IP address is usually the IP address of the INTERNET log on site. That address tells every site that you want to open where you are located. Netflix and all the others are not blocking you as a Mexican visitor but someone who has an Mexican IP address.

Your post sounds like you are looking for a conspiracy against various sites who are stopping contact from Mexico. FYI there are licensing agreements regarding where specific data can be used. That's the current problem that Netflix has in Mexico. They are trying to get permission to view more movies in Mexico. That has not happened yet. 

You can use a VPN or proxy server (and these options have been discussed on this site for months.) It is not true that the server will send anyone anything. You will log on to the site via a VPN and the site will see an US (or whatever country you choose) IP address. 

I really don't wan to get into more details because we have listed many posts regarding who,what, why and when things happen. If you're interested, please search Netflix, VPN or proxy service and you'll get a lot of information.


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## JgmLeonard (Nov 4, 2010)

“Your post sounds like you are looking for a conspiracy”. Evidently as a senior editor on this site you seem to be more concerned in being insulting than helpful. Instead of just pointing out factual errors, you have to start off with an insult. You might be a little more tactful if you don't want to discourage participation. (Of course, if you take offense at that remark...)

You may be right that Netflix is having licensing problems with showing videos from their USA site to visitors to Mexican IP addresses. (I thought that was the reason that the Mexican Netflix offering has fewer movies available in Mexico and did not know it was also the reason Netflix stopped their USA site from showing ALL movies online to Mexican visitors*.) And, no, I don’t think that you think that the movie studios are in a “conspiracy” against Mexico over licensing problems.

All I know is that Netflix USA videos were available to Mexican visitors in the early part of this year and they only stopped right after Netflix announced the introduction of a new Mexican service. Isn’t it strange that HULU from the USA is not blocked at all in Mexico? They don’t seem to have any “licensing” problems.

* By the way the phrase “Mexican visitors” can be defined as “Visitors who happened to be in the country of Mexico” or “Visitors of Mexican nationality”. I meant the former and don’t know why you would interpret it as the latter. Of course, no website knows if a visitor is of Mexican nationality or not. I would have thought that was obvious.


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

Leonard you write:
“Your post sounds like you are looking for a conspiracy”. Evidently as a senior editor on this site you seem to be more concerned in being insulting than helpful. Instead of just pointing out factual errors, you have to start off with an insult. You might be a little more tactful if you don't want to discourage participation. (Of course, if you take offense at that remark...)

Maybe he was just sending you a plain insult.........


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

sorry


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## dogtags (Apr 24, 2011)

The entire concept of "visitors" in ANY sense is not relevant to this discussion. Licensing agreements permitting or limiting the distribution of content apply to LOCATIONS, not individuals. It would be helpful if you would educate yourself on the issue of international licensing agreements in general. (This topic also applies to the concept of DVD Regions. The owners of movie rights are allowed to release their films at different times in different parts of the world, and they accomplish this by having DVD players limited to play only DVD's of a specific region, thus preventing DVD's from appearing in a country before a film is officially released there.)

Your references to "blocking" are misleading, because they imply that there is a willful action to PREVENT the streaming of content to a certain country. Like all international commerce, this industry is governed by international laws and licensing agreements. A US airline may not have the right to fly to a Mexican city, but this does NOT mean that people are being "blocked" from flying that airline; that service is simply not available. 

Your assertions that Netflix was available in Mexico previously and that Hulu is available now are both false. Netflix was available only via an intermediary; they were NOT streaming to Mexico, but to a valid US server, which forwarded the signal to its subscribers in Mexico. This is still true for Hulu, while Netflix meanwhile got permission to provide an entirely separate operation in Latin American countries. 

A company's decision to offer or not offer service to any particular area does not necessarily mean that they have problems doing business there. They may simply feel that the expenses don't justify the return. To assign "motive" to these desicions is naïve and inaccurate.


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## JgmLeonard (Nov 4, 2010)

*More advice on how to behave??*

"It would be helpful if you would educate yourself ". Looks like this site is full of people who can't seem to start a sentence without an insult first. I've had enough of all of you.


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## pappabee (Jun 22, 2010)

JgmLeonard said:


> "It would be helpful if you would educate yourself ". Looks like this site is full of people who can't seem to start a sentence without an insult first. I've had enough of all of you.


If you quote information that is false then you should expect someone to object. I read the article that you listed in your first paragraph regarding “Internet Censorship at Wikipedia". It's very interesting that Mexico was not listed in any part of the discussion. As a matter of fact the map showed Mexico with "no evidence of censorship" so your information is not completely accurate. As pointed out by Dogtags, Netflix as not available in Mexico prior to their latest addition. If you tried to log on to Netflix with a Mexican IP address you would get the message that "Netflix is not currently available at your location" 

For the record I have nothing to do with running this site and I am not a "senior editor” as a matter of fact there are no editors here just posters (members) and moderators (who try very hard to keep the rest of us in some semblance of order). 

You also seem to be very uptight regarding insults. Nothing I said in my original post was intended to be an insult, just a statement of fact or opinion. So far in this world we are still entitled to both. I would strongly suggest that if you are going to place yourself out in the public domain you first check your facts.

This is a place to share information, ideas and thoughts. To do so we need the input of many different people. But those people MUST be accurate in the facts that they post. We don't have to agree with it (and in some cases a lot don't) but the information quoted must be accurate.


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## kelsea44 (Nov 18, 2011)

Back to the original topic.... Is there a problem using Skype from Mexico? Skype includes Mexico in their listings, why would they restrict IPS addresses from Mexico?
What happened to free trade....LOL.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

kelsea44 said:


> Back to the original topic.... Is there a problem using Skype from Mexico? Skype includes Mexico in their listings, why would they restrict IPS addresses from Mexico?
> What happened to free trade....LOL.


Skype works fine. I use it all the time to phones/computers in the US, Mexico and Germany. In fact, at 12 cents/minute to Mexico, it is cheaper than using my prepaid Mexican phone. Those minutes are 4 pesos each. I should try to remember to use Skype more often.


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## dogtags (Apr 24, 2011)

Skype is not restricted from Mexican IP addresses. Many of us use here use it with success. In some countries, companies which offered both internet and long distance (e.g. AT&T), did restrict the use of their wireless service for making VoiP calls, since it would compete with their own long-distance product. This may still be the case with some carriers, but not with TelCel. 

Another post mentioned the inability to access eTrade. I had a similar problem with iTunes. Some companies are not licensed to do business in Mexico, and in these cases, the VPN is useful. In the case of iTunes, it was not made clear that the problem was that I was logging in from Mexico; I only learned that when I successfully completed my transaction via the VPN's US server.


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## Rodrigo84 (Mar 5, 2008)

I have some foreign friends who use splashtop which is a remote control desktop software. They can then access a computer in their families home (they are foreigners temporarily down here for like a year) and then can gain access to a computer in their family's home in their home country.


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## pappabee (Jun 22, 2010)

kelsea44 said:


> Back to the original topic.... Is there a problem using Skype from Mexico? Skype includes Mexico in their listings, why would they restrict IPS addresses from Mexico?
> What happened to free trade....LOL.


It seems that some telcom companies either block or slow down Skype contacts. I know many people who use it in Mexico with no problem at all.

Free trade is no longer free.


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

kelsea44 said:


> Back to the original topic.... Is there a problem using Skype from Mexico? Skype includes Mexico in their listings, why would they restrict IPS addresses from Mexico?
> What happened to free trade....LOL.


Skype works just fine in Mexico. I have a package for $5.99 USD per month where I can call any land line or cell in the US plus any land line in Mexico City, Guadalajara or Monterrey unlimited minutes for no additional charge. Any land line in the rest of Mexico is .04 US per minute. The only thing that is not so good is Skype to cell phones within Mexico. They are a gouge at .32 US per minute... no problem, I just use my cell to call other cells. Of course, Skype to Skype is free like anywhere in the world


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## Gordito (Nov 26, 2009)

*Skype*

I use Skype all the time in Mexico however I do pay $5 a month for Mexico access. My Skype number is a California number. I dont know if that helps but i have never had an issue using Skype in Mexico.


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