How to Access Blocked Websites: 4 Free Ways
Sometimes certain websites can get blocked — by authorities or just employers in the office. Here are few ways you can bypass the restrictions and get access to desired websites.
1. VPN
VPN or Virtual Private Network technology allows users to access web content via a secure Internet connection. This looks like a tunnel from the user device to a website. The thing is that this tunnel actually starts at some point other than your home network. That is if you’re in a country where a certain website is blocked and can not be opened than using a VPN service allows you to connect to this address using IP address which is physically located in another country where this content is available with no restrictions.
Our very own iNinja tool does exactly this — you can easily change your IP-address. For now, 9 VPN-servers in different countries are available for free. Also, iNinja works faster than many other popular VPNs like Tunnelbear, Hotspot Shield, and Hola.
2. Access via IP instead of URL
Sometimes good option for accessing restricted content is to try to connect to target website not using its URL but an IP instead. Simple ping command via command prompt (Windows) and terminal on Mac will help to reveal this address. However this my now work if the website you’re trying to reach is working on a shared server where other website deployed as well.
3. Proxy Websites
Another option to access blocked content on the Web is to use dedicated proxy websites. This can be used both for using websites that are blocked in the entire country and when access to some resources is restricted, say, in the certain office by the employer.
There are a number of proxy websites out there. Such sites behave as a moderator between the user and the website which mask the blocked site to internet provider. ISP thinks that you’re on a website that is not blocked — that is proxy. But inside it you’re seeing the content of the desired websites.
Example Proxy website: ProxySite
4. Google Translate
If one website is blocked in some country this does not mean that other resources which can be used to access it are also blocked. Surprisingly, many of blocked websites can be accessed via Google Translate. For doing this you just need to paste an URL of a website into its prompt (do not forget to pick not original language of a website in a first box).
After the link is translated, you can click on it and get desired web page:
As it can be seen, there are a number of ways to access any blocked content. However, using a VPN is the most reliable one as other may not work in some circumstances.
Know other ways to bypass blocked content? Share your tools in the comments!
