A poor list of movies and TV serials and censorship seem to have taken the charm out of Netflix, which launched in India this month. Much of the euphoria has also been dampened by our broadband problems.

We simply don't have high speed Internet. Our Internet Service Providers throttle our speed to a pathetic 512 kbps once we have reached the specified threshold of our Internet usage because of something called fair usage policy. This policy was imposed to prevent network congestion by continuous movies streaming at high bit rates. Now that bandwidth has increased, this policy has become unrealistic.

For Netflix you will need a connection speed of at least 4 mbps and a plan that gives you over 40 GB a month. A high definition video will consume at least 3 GB an hour and standard definition 0.7 GB an hour. You cannot download the movies because they are streamed. So you must be connected to the Internet throughout the length of the show.

I suggest you get an ADSL connection instead of relying on your 4G or 3G dongles or phone. 4G is fast but you will exhaust the data limit before you know it. Wireless Internet will turn out to be very expensive. Get a fixed line broadband either from your cable TV operator or from Airtel, BSNL or Tata Indicom Broadband if you want to enjoy a streaming service like Netflix.

Even though Neflix India has a poor catalogue of English movies and TV serials, it says it is working hard on adding more shows. As of now it does not even stream its own hit production, House Of Cards, presumably because the rights have already been sold to another broadcaster for this region. The Netflix catalogue for India is so bad that only about 11 per cent of the US movie library and just 17 per cent of TV serials are available. The list of Bollywood movies too is meagre for now.

To get past India's stringent censorship laws, Netflix will deploy PIN lock codes for parents to prevent kids from watching mature content. But we do not yet know if this will satisfy the Indian government.

There is a way to beat this censorship and content problem on Netflix India. To do this you must be able to access Netflix USA. You normally cannot do this because Netflix will always divert you to the Indian site through a technology called geo-blocking. So you need a virtual private network (VPN) that will fool Netflix into thinking that you are accessing the site from the US. Netflix says it will even block this but that is not going to be easy.

There are many free VPNs available but they do not work too well. Try this one. Now go to www2.unotelly.com and click on 'Unlock for Free'. Once you register, you can use UnoTelly for free for eight days. After that it will cost you around $5 a month. Once you register for UnoTelly, you will be guided through the setup process. Ask a friend to open a US account for you on Netflix and gift you a subscription. Now you will be able to enjoy Netflix as it should be by logging to the US site. You can also access other sites that are blocked in India by using UnoTelly.

To get a sense of what is available worldwide on Netflix go to smartflix.io and download a small utility. After that, just click on the link, and view a movie or serial.

If you do not want to take that trouble, sign up for Netflix in India and opt for the Rs 500 or Rs 650 plan. Remember only credit cards are accepted. No debit cards.
 

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