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How to Watch HBO’s True Detective Overseas

By Paul Liu
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015

True Detective is a highly acclaimed crime drama series crafted by HBO. Having made its debut in 2014, the series is currently in its second season. The first season saw acclaimed actors like Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson and Michelle Monaghan grace the show while the second season stars Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn and Rachel McAdams. The series has won numerous accolades and awards for direction, acting and scriptwriting.

What To Expect From Season Two?

Unlike season 1 which was set in Louisiana, the second season of True Detective is based in California. The story of the current season revolves around police officers from three different police department and a former criminal who is now a big shot businessman. When the body of a corrupt official is found on a highway, the officers from different police departments must co-operate to get to the bottom of the mystery.

How To Watch True Detective Online?

The latest episodes of the True Detective series are available via: http://www.hbo.com/true-detective/episodes/index.html. Since HBO offers two different streaming services at present, the series can be watched either on HBO Go or via HBO Now. However, both these services are available only to American subscribers so if you are an American based abroad, you won’t be able to watch the series due to your non-American IP address. When you try to watch the show from outside US, you will come across the message “To-access-HBO-Go, you-must-reside-within the-fifty-states-of the-United-States-of-America”.

Unblocking The Show From Outside US

Since content providers like HBO rely on IP address to block access to shows, you must switch to an American IP address in order to watch True Detective from abroad. While you can definitely use a free or cheap method (such as proxies) to get a US IP, I don’t recommend using them since they can’t deliver the speeds required to stream HD content. Instead, I recommend subscribing to a VPN or SmartDNS service which are tailor made for unblocking blocked content on the web. Here is how you can unblock True Detective with a VPN or SmartDNS service:

Step 1) Get a subscription of a renowned SmartDNS or VPN service. SmartDNS is useful for unblocking websites but it won’t protect you from surveillance and hacking attacks. If you are looking for end-to-end encryption of your online sessions, in addition to unblocking sites like HBO Go and HBO Now; VPNs are definitely a better choice. Some of the decent VPNs and/or SmartDNS services that you might want to consider are: HideMyAss, IPVanish, VyprVPN, Overplay, StrongVPN, ExpressVPN, PureVPN, Private Internet Access, VPNSecure, VPN.ac, and EarthVPN.

Step 2) Configure the VPN or SmartDNS service as per the instructions provided by your service provider. If your VPN provider provides a VPN client, you just need to install it in order to use the service. However, if you want to unlock True Detective on a mobile device then you would need to modify the default Network Setting of your device.

Step 3) Save the new settings and reboot your machine (if necessary) for the changes to take effect.

Step 4) Start the VPN service by clicking on its Desktop icon. For mobile devices, you need to navigate to the Network Settings area and start the service from there.

Step 5) Make sure that you are connected to an American VPN server before you visit the HBO website. This is not an issue for mobile devices where you need to input the VPN server manually. If you miss this step then HBO may block you even if you are connected to the VPN service. You may also visit an IP checking site to double check that the IP address provided by your service provider is indeed from United States.

Step 6) Visit the True Detective page on HBO to watch the series episodes. In case of mobile devices, you must restart the HBO Go or HBO Now app so that it uses the new network settings. Congratulations, you can now access the series from any location.