I have OpenVPN setup on my Linode and working perfectly; Hulu.com doesn't seem to think I am in the United States though. My VPS is at the New Jersey data center - anyone else have this issue? Does it work from any other data center?

I'm doing this through a Newark linode and it works like a charm .

Have you cleared your cache/cookies/etc and restared your browser before accessing Hulu? Are you sure everything is being routed through the Linode?

I did it a few weeks ago (although I have a _nasty_ openvpn problem at the moment -- if you want to see something scary, look at http://www.linode.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=20802).

IIRC, Hulu's plugin checks your local time zone. Fix that, and you should be good to go.

I changed my timezone so it matches the timezone of where the NJ datacenter, is still no luck. What I can't figure out is all other sites with normal US IP Blocks work...

It also appears as if everything is getting routed, as even from a terminal prompt I am coming up with the NJ IP... Hmm, very strange.

I can try again tonight; I'm also in the NJ datacenter

What if you go to, say, http://www.whatismyipaddress.com/ or some other site that shows the IP address your HTTP connection is coming from? Just to make sure the routing isn't weird...

I'm pretty sure Hulu doesn't check your timezone - both my linode and my PC have a GMT timezone, and it's fine.

When I proxy through my Newark Linode, http://www.hulu.com/users/queue always gives me a 403 Forbidden, but I can watch videos if I go straight to a show page.

(I live in NY, but sometimes forget to turn the proxy off)

Sorry, I mixed up hulu with ABC. Hulu doesn't require a time zone.

I had this issue with ESPN 360 when I proxied from my Linode at first, as well. ESPN 360 services college campuses and "preferred providers," and on a whim I tried my brand-new Linode and it didn't work. Two days later, it started working.

I suspect this has something to do with the GeoIP databases in use, and it's quite frustrating. Have you tried just a straight SSH tunnel for WWW traffic, the sorta-SOCKS method? In case the VPN isn't working right?

That won't work for Hulu and other sites using GeoIP - they use Flash to connect directly to their servers, and Flash does not use your web browsers settings.

Hm, worked for me last time I tried. They must have changed it since then. Good point.

Uhh.... No. Flash respects my http-proxy setting just fine in Firefox, proven by the fact that I can get to Hulu/YouTube from within $WORK's network (where the only access to the outside is through a Squid box).

This is maybe a dumb suggestion, but could it be cookies?

Maybe you tried to hit from home, it set a cookie, and it's still there.

Thanks for all the replies! I appreciate it.

A few answers:

- Yes, I checked my IP both via web based tools and via the terminal (i'm on OSX here) - both resolve to the LinNode IP, so I know that is working fine.

- Yes, I tried SSH tunnel - no dice

- Yes, I cleared cookies - even tried a totally different browser I never use (Safari)

- I also tried via another VPN service, and it worked, so I know the problem is with my LinNode IP specifically

My gut says that Hulu just dosen't like my IP for some reason. Maybe it likes some Linode IP blocks but not others? NBC, Pandora and a few others all work fine, so I assume its a GEOIP database issue as previously mentioned